y 


VARIOUS  DISCOURSES 


BY  THE 

REV.  T.  J.  CAMPBELL,  S.J, 


JOSEPH    F.  WAGNER   (!NC.) 

NEW   YORK 
LONDON:  B.  HERDER 


fyil  ©bstat 

A.  J.  MAAS,  S.  J. 

Praepositus  Prov.  Marylandiae — Neo  Eboracensis 


fliljti  ©bstat 

ARTHUR  J.  SCANLAN,  S.T.D. 

Censor  Librorum 


3tnpritttatut 

fcJOHN   CARDINAL  FARLEY 

Archbishop  of  New  York 


NEW  YORK,  SEPTEMBER  10,  1917 


Copyright,  1917,  by  JOSEPH  F.  WAGNBR  (Inc.),  New  York 


DEDICATED 

TO   THE 

RIGHT  REVEREND  PATRICK  J.  HAYES,  D.D. 

AUXILIARY    BISHOP    OF    NEW   YORK 
AS    A 

CONGRATULATORY  TRIBUTE  ON  THE  OCCASION  OF  HIS 
SACERDOTAL  SILVER  JUBILEE 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

THESE  discourses  are  mainly  on  historical,  sociological, 
ecclesiastical,  and  educational  topics.  They  are  the  rem- 
nants of  thirty-five  years,  or  more,  of  pulpit  and  platform 
work,  which  have  already  appeared  in  pamphlets  or  in  the 
local  press  of  different  parts  of  the  country.  There  are  no 
sermons  among  them,  properly  so  called,  though  several  of 
them  have  been  delivered  in  churches  or  at  religious  gather- 
ings. They  are  now  put  in  book-form  at  the  instance  of 
some  friends,  whose  personal  regard,  it  is  feared,  may  have 
influenced  their  judgment  as  to  the  advisability  of  the  pub- 
lication. Indeed,  the  reprint  seems  superfluous,  or  even 
presumptuous  to  a  certain  degree,  but  possibly  it  may  be  of 
some  service. 

FORDHAM  UNIVERSITY,  New  York.- 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Obsequies  of  Father  Hecker I 

The  Paulist  Jubilee 6 

Consecration  of  Bishop  McDonnell  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.     .    .  15 

Silver  Jubilee  of  Bishop  McDonnell  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.    .    .  25 

Intellectual  Education 37 

Marriage 48 

Who  Delayed  the  Establishment  of  the  American  Hierarchy  ?  69 

The  Dead  Nineteenth  Century 95 

Jesuit  Education 107 

The  Higher  Education  of  Women  —  Madame  Barat .    ...  119 

The  Only  True  American  School  System 133 

Golden  Jubilee  of  St.  Francis  Xavier's  Church 163 

Leo  XIII .    .    .  177 

Genesis  of  Socialism 194 

Golden  Jubilee  of  St.  John's  Church,  Bangor,  Me 223 

Dedication  of  St.  Mary's  Church,  Ansonia,  Conn 239 

Laying  the  Corner  Stone  of  the  Church  of  Our  Holy  Re- 
deemer, Bar  Harbor,  Me 252 

The  Reconsecration  of  the  Father  Rasle  Monument     .    .    .  263 

Dedication  of  the  Ryan  Memorial 276 

Dedication  of  the  Church  of  Our  Lady  of  Mercy,  Brooklyn, 

N.Y 288 

The  Eucharist  in  the  Early  Missions  of  North  America   .    .  299 

Unveiling  of  the  Tablet  in  Honor  of  Jean  Nicolet  before  the 

Michigan  Historical  Society 312 

The  Marist  Centennial 323 

Dedication  of  the  Granite  Shaft  on  Indian  Hill,  Syracuse,  N.Y.  334 

Dedication  of  the  Church  of  the  Nativity,  Brooklyn,  N.Y.  346 


VARIOUS  DISCOURSES 

Obsequies  of  Father  Hecker 

Paulist  Church,  New  York,  December  26, 1888 

THE  first  words  of  the  Sunday  Mass  in  the  Christ- 
mas season  are :  "  When  night  was  in  the  midst 
of   its   course   the   Omnipotent   Word   of   God 
came  down  from  his  celestial  abode."     They  describe  very 
rapidly  and  very  vividly  the  intellectual,  moral,  and  reli- 
gious   condition    of    the    world    immediately    before    the 
Incarnation. 

During  that  period  there  were  certain  earnest  souls 
watching  for  the  dawn.  They  lived  amid  the  Gentiles, 
where  the  night  was  darkest.  They  were  called  Wise  Men 
because  they  were  watching  for  God;  they  were  called 
Magi  or  Kings  because  they  were  superior  to  the  condi- 
tions around  them;  and  according  to  tradition  they  were 
Priests  because  although  not  of  the  Chosen  People  they 
offered  sacrifices  to  the  Most  High  God. 

When  the  star,  the  harbinger  of  the  long-expected  day, 
was  seen,  they  arose  and  hastened  to  the  source  of  light, 
availing  themselves  of  whatever  human  or  revealed  knowl- 
edge they  possessed  to  guide  them  on  their  way.  Obstacles 
multiplied  as  they  proceeded;  royal  cities  glittered  before 
their  eyes  to  allure  them  with  false  lights;  the  apathy  and 
unconcern  of  the  appointed  guardians  of  the  truth  repelled 
them;  even  the  light  that  had  led  them  through  the  gloom 
failed;  but  they  were  kingly  souls,  and,  in  spite  of  it  all, 
they  pressed  eagerly  forward  until  they  knelt  in  the  dwell- 


2  VARIOUS   DISCOURSES 

ing  of  the  Light  of  Light,  and  laid  at  the  feet  of  the 
Saviour  their  symbolical  gifts  of  gold  and  frankincense  and 
myrrh. 

The  coming  of  the  Magi  has  always  been  glorified  in 
the  Church,  for  it  was  more  than  an  act  of  individual 
virtue.  It  was  the  announcement  of  the  vocation  of  the 
Gentiles,  and  almost  a  doctrinal  pronouncement  that  for 
humanity  to  attain  to  God,  there  is  need  of  supernatural 
wisdom,  kingly  fortitude,  and  a  spirit  of  almost  sacerdotal 
sacrifice. 

In  a  somewhat  similar  way,  but  of  course  not  with  its 
wide  significance,  it  happened  that  amid  the  darkness  of 
forty  years  ago  a  star  shone  before  the  eyes  of  another 
watcher,  and  he,  like  the  kings  of  old,  arose  and  followed 
it.  Heedless  of  what  it  meant  in  the  abandonment  of 
worldly  hopes  and  ambitions;  making  light  of  what  it  im- 
plied in  the  way  of  sorrow  and  suffering;  and  though  many 
a  deceptive  light  would  have  lured  him  from  the  path,  he 
kept  ever  onward  through  doubt  and  disappointment  and 
defeat  till  he  found  the  long-sought  Christ,  and  laid  at  His 
feet  the  gold  and  frankincense  and  myrrh  of  his  past  life 
and  whatever  else  of  homage  he  might  be  asked  to  pay 
in  the  unknown  future  before  him.  He  was  wise,  he  was 
royal,  and  in  his  instinct  he  was  already  sacerdotal. 

As  with  the  Magi  this  earnest  seeker  for  truth,  Isaac 
Hecker,  felt  his  heart  filled  with  peace  and  joy  and  grati- 
tude when  that  long  and  weary  search  was  ended.  Like 
the  Magi  of  old  he  was  bidden  by  God's  representative 
to  return  to  his  own  country,  and  then  began  the  second 
pilgrimage;  his  lifetime  of  splendid  endeavors,  of  magnifi- 
cent priestly  devotion,  and  during  the  fifteen  darkened 
years  that  led  to  the  tomb,  the  slow  enwrapping  of  himself 
in  the  myrrh  of  sickness  and  sorrow  and  humiliation,  until 
at  last  the  light  of  eternity  pierced  the  gloom,  and  he  saw 
the  Saviour,  no  longer  through  the  intervening  veil  of  faith, 


OBSEQUIES    OF    FATHER    HECKER          3 

but  face  to  face  in  the  splendor  and  glory  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven. 

Surely  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  man  about 
whose  coffin  we  are  gathered  to-day  with  our  offerings  of 
sacrifice  and  suffrage  was,  at  every  moment  of  his  career, 
ever  eagerly  watching  for  God,  from  the  time  that  the  first 
glimmer  of  light  was  leading  him  to  divine  truth  until  its 
effulgence  shone  around  him,  and  after  he  became  a  Catho- 
lic and  a  priest. 

It  matters  not  what  his  human  knowledge  may  have  been, 
or  how  his  enthusiastic  and  impulsive  nature  had  to  be  re- 
strained ;  those  who  knew  him  best  understood  that  the  one 
absorbing  ambition  of  his  zealous  soul  was  to  know  more 
and  more  about  the  beauty,  the  majesty,  and  the  mercy 
of  God  and  to  proclaim  it  to  other  men.  For  him  the 
sun  of  wisdom  was  to  know  divine  truth,  and  that  desire 
was  always  the  controlling  and  impelling  power  of  his 
will. 

Of  his  sacerdotal  zeal  for  the  extension  of  the  Kingdom 
who  can  worthily  speak?  It  was  a  fire  that  consumed 
him;  a  spark  running  through  the  reeds  to  set,  if  possible, 
the  world  aflame.  He  was  exulting  in  the  greatness  of  his 
strength,  and  little  recked  how  soon  it  was  spent.  He 
was  rejoicing  to  have  been  intrusted  with  the  message  of 
his  Divine  Master  and  thought  only  of  sending  through 
other  men's  hearts  the  joy  that  was  pulsing  in  his  own. 
What  cared  he  for  himself  if  the  voice  of  the  Lord  could 
be  heard  to  the  end  of  the  earth?  What  cared  he  if, 
with  the  Royal  Psalmist,  he  might  sing  "  the  voice  of  God 
thundering  in  power  and  magnificence  over  the  waste  of 
waters,  shattering  the  cedars  of  the  mountain  and  startling 
the  desert  into  life  "  ?  None  who  ever  heard  him  preach 
and  plead  from  the  pulpit  could  hesitate  to  say :  "  There 
is  a  man  who  is  living  for  God."  Like  the  morning  star 
shining  in  the  midst  of  a  cloud,  and  as  the  moon  at  full 


4  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

and  the  sun  shineth,  he  put  on  the  robes  of  glory  and 
clothed  himself  with  the  perfection  of  his  power. 

The  end  came  before  the  normal  time,  but  there  was 
assigned  to  him  as  a  preparation  the  oblation  of  the  myrrh 
of  his  many  years  of  shattered  strength  and  helpless  in- 
activity—  to  him  one  of  the  greatest  of  trials.  Who  of 
us  that  knew  him  in  the  days  of  his  magnificent  manhood 
can  recall  without  a  pang  the  change  that  had  come  over 
his  outward  appearance?  How  deep  and  tender  were  the 
words  that  sprang  from  many  lips  as  he  passed  by  with 
the  pallor  of  death  upon  him,  and  all  the  brightness  and 
animation  of  former  days  faded  and  gone.  Eyes  that 
were  full  of  affection  watched  him,  and  sobs  came  with 
the  words:  "Ah!  poor  Father  Hecker!  "  Many  a  prayer 
leaped  to  heaven  for  his  recovery,  and  it  is  said  that  many 
a  life  was  offered  to  God  that  he  might  be  spared.  But 
God  had  other  designs.  The  faithful  servant  was  purified 
by  affliction,  and  when  the  struggle  was  over  he  knelt  be- 
fore his  Master's  throne  with  hands  full  of  the  fragrance 
of  his  works. 

Hence  it  was  that  no  one  ever  came  within  the  sphere 
of  his  influence  who  could  fail  to  experience  the  power 
he  possessed  of  leading  men  to  the  service  of  God.  No 
one  who  ever  looked  upon  this  man  of  noble  mien  with 
head  erect,  his  kindly  face  illumined  by  the  sunlight  of 
affection  for  all  mankind,  could  ever  doubt  that  he  was  a 
leader  of  men.  Who  that  knew  him  in  the  glorious  days, 
now  long  past,  could  contemplate  without  amazement  the 
labors  he  assumed  in  the  building  up  of  his  religious  com- 
munity, the  construction  of  his  monastery  and  church, 
the  publications  he  inaugurated,  the  books  that  he  wrote, 
and  the  missions  that  carried  him  from  ocean  to  ocean, 
each  of  them  implying  labor  enough  for  a  dozen  men. 
His  voice  was  an  inspiration  in  the  pulpit,  in  the  confes- 
sional, in  private  conversation.  You  readily  yielded  to  the 


OBSEQUIES    OF    FATHER    HECKER          5 

sway  he  exercised  over  you,  and  accepted  his  leadership 
without  discussion  or  delay.  You  felt  that  he  himself  was 
conscious  of  the  power  he  possessed,  and  exulted  in  it, 
though  without  the  slightest  trace  of  self-seeking  or  pride. 
His  spiritual  sons  in  the  religious  family  of  which  he  was 
the  founder  recognized  it  all  through  the  long  years  in 
which  a  withering  illness  had  unfitted  him  for  the  active 
exercise  of  his  office,  up  to  the  very  last  breath  he  drew, 
when  they  knelt  about  his  bedside  and  asked  his  parting 
benediction.  He  gave  no  response  at  first,  but  when, 
finally,  the  familiar  voice  of  many  years  resounded  in  his 
ears,  "Shall  I  bless  them  for  you,  Father?"  he  aroused 
himself  from  the  depths  of  pain  and  exhaustion,  and  his 
ashen  lips  which  death  was  sealing  pronounced  the  singu- 
lar words :  "  No,  I  will  give  it  in  the  shadow  of  death." 
His  feeble  hand  was  raised,  and  like  a  leader  dying  on 
the  field  of  battle  he  reconsecrated  his  followers  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  for  the  struggle 
in  which  they  had  chosen  him  as  Leader.  It  was  so  with 
the  High  Priest  Simon :  "  Around  him  was  the  ring  of  his 
brethren,  and  as  the  cedar  upon  Mount  Libanus,  and  as 
the  branches  of  palm  trees  they  were  ranged  about  him, 
and  he  took  the  oblation  from  their  hands  and  poured  out 
the  libation  of  the  blood  of  the  grove,  a  divine  odor  be- 
fore the  altar  of  the  Most  High  Prince.  And  coming 
down  from  the  altar  he  raised  his  hands  over  all  the  con- 
gregation of  the  children  of  Israel,  that  he  might  give 
glory  to  God  with  his  lips  and  glory  in  His  name." 


The  Paulist  Jubilee 

Paulist  Church,  New  York,  January  25,  1910 

IT  is  a  very  great  privilege  to  be  one  of  the  speakers  at 
this  Jubilee,  but  in  my  own  case  I  am  almost  tempted 
to  claim  it  as  a  personal  right.  For  there  are  few, 
if  any,  of  the  clergy  of  New  York  at  present  who  know 
Fifty-ninth  Street  as  it  was  fifty  years  ago  better  than  I. 
Even  among  the  Paulist  Fathers  themselves,  all  of  the 
distinguished  men  who  were  then  so  much  in  the  public 
eye,  and  we  may  add  so  deep  in  the  public  heart,  have 
been  one  by  one  called  to  their  reward,  so  that  in  the 
community  which  now  commemorates  its  splendid  achieve- 
ments there  are  none  who  were  living  here  in  those  far- 
away days. 

What  is  true  of  them  is  true  also,  to  a  large  extent, 
of  the  congregation.  With  some  few  exceptions,  nearly 
all  of  those  who  were  here  when  St.  Paul's  was  first  opened 
as  a  church  have,  because  of  the  constantly  changing  con- 
ditions in  which  we  Americans  live,  migrated  elsewhere, 
though  many  have  reached  the  term  of  their  earthly  career 
and  laid  down  the  burden  of  life.  Fifty  years  ago  the 
congregation  was  relatively  so  small,  and  the  situation  so 
isolated  and  remote,  that  we  knew  each  other  almost  in- 
timately, and  could  mark  the  gaps  that  occurred,  as  time 
travelled  onward  in  its  course.  What  few  remain,  no 
doubt  like  myself,  often  revert  with  pleasure  to  the  past. 

This  place,  which  is  now  so  congested,  was  then  the 
open  country.  There  were  no  whirring  elevated  trains 
rushing  past,  no  rumbling  of  subterraneous  railways,  no 
clanging  of  trolleys  in  the  then  quiet  street  and  avenue; 
there  were  no  shops  or  hotels  or  hospitals,  no  dense  lines 


THE    PAULIST   JUBILEE  7 

of  tenements  crowding  each  other  for  space.  The  greater 
part  of  the  block  where  the  church  stood  expanded  into 
a  beautiful  garden;  there  were  scattered  houses  here  and 
there  about  Fifty-first  and  Fifty-fourth  streets,  but  to  the 
north  was  a  rough  region  of  rocks  and  swamps  and  woods 
as  far  as  Harlem.  The  Park  was  just  then  being  re- 
claimed from  the  wilderness;  Broadway,  which  is  now  a 
line  of  palaces,  was  only  the  narrow  Bloomingdale  Road, 
along  which  the  daily  stage  toiled  sluggishly  on  its  way 
to  Manhattanville.  To  the  east  in  the  vacant  lots  stood 
the  white  foundations  of  the  Cathedral,  on  which  work 
had  been  suspended,  for  the  Civil  War  was  then  in  prog- 
ress. The  streets  had  not  yet  divided  the  remnants  of  the 
old  estates,  and  the  river  banks  were  still  free  from  the 
invasion  of  the  power-stations  and  the  storehouses  of  trade. 
On  the  contrary,  high  and  precipitous  rocks  protruded  into 
the  yet  unpolluted  stream,  and  the  boys  found  plenty  of 
swimming  places,  in  coves  and  nooks  which  were  as  safe 
and  secluded  as  if  they  were  in  far-away  rural  retreats. 
Fifty-ninth  Street  Rock  was  famous  in  those  days. 

It  was  while  coming  up  one  day  from  the  river  with  a 
party  of  boys  that  I  first  saw  on  the  hill  a  structure  which 
was  nearing  completion.  We  wondered  at  its  unusual  ap- 
pearance, and  in  answer  to  our  inquiries  we  were  told  that 
it  was  "  the  Paulist  Monastery."  But  neither  "  Paulist " 
nor  "  Monastery  "  was  then  a  familiar  word  in  New  York. 

A  short  time  after  that,  I  was  one  of  the  younger  mem- 
bers of  the  congregation,  and  formed  part  of,  if  I  did 
not  assist,  the  old  volunteer  choir,  which  was  the  predeces- 
sor, though  not  the  progenitor,  of  the  musical  throng  that 
now  crowds  the  sanctuary  of  St.  Paul's. 

The  church  was  not  the  present  monumental  structure, 
but  merely  a  portion  of  the  residence.  It  was  not  large, 
though  we  thought  it  so,  for  we  were  not  then  used  to 
vast  ecclesiastical  edifices;  nor  was  it  beautiful,  though  we 


8  VARIOUS   DISCOURSES 

were  much  attached  to  it,  especially  because  it  sometimes 
extended  into  the  garden,  and  on  festivals  like  Corpus 
Christi  we  could  accompany  the  Blessed  Sacrament  and  go 
in  procession  along  the  flower-lined  pathways,  singing  our 
jubilant  anthems  in  the  bright  sunlight  which  seemed  always 
to  illumine  those  happy  days.  We  were  all  to  ourselves 
in  the  verdure  and  fragrance  in  which  the  church  was  em- 
bowered. It  all  belonged  to  the  Lord  and  to  us. 

We  were  fond  of  church-going  in  those  days.  The  rage 
for  parties  and  balls  and  theatres  had  not  yet  taken  pos- 
session of  the  people,  and  beyond  boating  on  the  river  our 
pleasure  consisted  mostly  in  attendance  at  rehearsals  and 
assisting  at  Mass  and  Vespers;  but  I  doubt  if  any  set  of 
young  people  enjoyed  themselves  more.  We  identified 
ourselves  with  the  church.  The  sermons  were  never  too 
long,  nor  the  ceremonies  too  protracted.  We  shared  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  organist  when  such  accomplished  musi- 
cians as  Young  and  Tillotson  and  Baker  chanted  the  offices, 
especially  the  Passion,  and  those  of  us  who  were  present 
on  one  Holy  Saturday  long  remembered  with  delight  how, 
after  the  gloomy  silences  of  Lent,  when  the  Gloria  in 
Excelsis  was  intoned,  a  curtain  dropped  above  the  altar 
and  what  seemed  then  an  almost  luminous  figure  of  Our 
Lord  stood  revealed.  It  was  as  if  He  had  risen  from 
the  tomb  of  the  dead  wall  which  until  then  formed  the 
rear  of  the  sanctuary.  I  have  often  wondered  what  be- 
came of  that  inspiring  picture. 

We  were  very  close  to  the  illustrious  and  apostolic  men 
who  adorned  the  sanctuary. 

First  of  all,  of  course,  was  Father  Hecker,  then  in  the 
full  vigor  of  his  splendid  manhood;  erect,  tall,  and  robust; 
always  on  fire  with  enthusiasm;  panting  with  eagerness  to 
impart  to  us  the  love  which  was  burning  in  his  own  heart 
for  God  and  the  Church;  constantly  planning  new  ways 
to  extend  the  Kingdom  of  Christ,  and  ever  possessed  and 


THE    PAULIST   JUBILEE  9 

impelled  by  the  idea  that  absorbed  him  of  leading  the 
world  out  of  the  darkness  of  error  into  the  splendor  of 
the  Light  of  Faith.  I  have  often  thought,  and  still  think, 
that  in  other  circumstances  and  in  other  times,  if  the  op- 
portunity were  offered,  he  would  have  made  a  magnificent 
martyr.  I  loved  and  admired  him,  and  it  was  a  strange 
coincidence  that  the  boy  who  had  looked  up  to  him  as  he 
stood  at  the  altar  should  after  many  years,  in  which  I 
never  saw  him,  be  chosen  to  stand  above  his  coffin  and 
pronounce  his  panegyric. 

With  him  was  the  gentle  Tillotson;  sweet,  amiable, 
and  persuasive.  His  sermons  were  not  set  speeches  or 
harangues  declaiming,  demonstrating,  denouncing,  but  con- 
versations which  explained,  expostulated,  and  pleaded. 
He  was  even  coaxing  in  his  tone  at  times,  nor  did  he  ever 
hesitate  to  lay  bare  the  workings  of  his  trustful  soul  when 
speaking  to  the  people.  "  I  have  completely  forgotten 
what  I  wanted  to  say  "  he  told  us  once,  and  then  after  a 
few  more  or  less  relevant  sentences  he  exclaimed,  as  if 
he  had  recovered  a  lost  treasure,  "  Oh !  it  has  come  back 
to  me,  here  it  is  " ;  and  he  resumed  the  line  of  thought. 
Needless  to  say  that  such  a  speaker  convinced  and  per- 
suaded, for  it  was  clear  that  we  were  not  being  carried 
away  by  the  brilliancy  of  rhetoric  or  the  devices  of  the 
accomplished  orator.  It  was  not  the  recovered  thought 
we  cared  for,  but  we  were  captivated  by  the  simplicity  of 
soul  that  was  revealed. 

The  striking  personality  of  Father  Baker  of  course 
arises  from  the  past.  His  handsome  face  was  like  a 
medallion.  The  features  were  perfect,  and  their  tranquil- 
lity suggested  the  ascetic,  the  man  of  prayer  and  mortifica- 
tion. His  voice  had  almost  a  metallic  ring  in  the  beginning 
of  his  discourses,  so  clear  was  his  enunciation,  but  it  melted 
down  into  music  as  he  proceeded,  and  its  charm  held  us 
to  the  end.  It  was  a  sad  day  when  we  gathered  around 


io  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

his  coffin;  but  there  was  a  glory  in  the"  obsequies,  for  he 
had  ended  his  career  in  a  way  that  every  priest  would 
desire.  He  died  a  martyr  of  charity,  because  of  the  de- 
voted care  he  had  lavished  upon  one  of  his  brethren  who 
was  at  the  point  of  death.  It  was  not  the  patient,  how- 
ever, it  was  Father  Baker  who  was  carried  to  the  tomb, 
and  the  new  pall  with  its  red  cross  which  he  had  devised 
was  first  employed  in  draping  his  coffin. 

The  poet  and  the  musician,  Father  Young,  was  here  in 
those  days;  but  may  we  not  say  that  he  is  still  here,  espe- 
cially on  this  anniversary,  in  the  song  that  rises  to  heaven 
from  the  sanctuary,  which  he  loved  so  much  and  for  which 
he  labored  so  long  and  well? 

In  that  group  also  was  the  intense,  the  concentrated, 
the  apostolically  argumentative  Hewitt,  whose  locks  had 
even  then  begun  to  whiten.  We  venerated  him  chiefly  as 
one  who  had  almost  achieved  martyrdom,  when  he  at- 
tempted to  stay  the  fury  of  the  mob  in  the  bloody  uprising 
of  the  draft  riots  which  held  New  York  in  terror  for 
many  days.  Indeed  it  was  a  marvel  that  he  recovered 
from  the  savage  blow  of  the  axe  that  stretched  him  in 
his  gore  on  the  street. 

Finally,  there  was  the  single-minded,  straightforward, 
but  kindly  and  affectionate  Deshon,  whose  name  is  written 
upon  every  stone  of  this  great  edifice.  It  is  his  work;  and 
the  military  training  of  the  builder  has  imparted  a  fortress- 
like  aspect  to  some  parts  of  its  exterior.  Soldier  though 
he  was,  he  had  the  tender-heartedness  of  a  child,  and  I 
shall  always  remember  how,  when  he  came  to  speak  to 
me  of  the  death  of  Father  Hecker,  his  eyes  were  suffused 
with  tears. 

The  advent  of  such  men  to  the  Church  was  an  epoch 
in  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  America.  It  was  a  shock 
to  the  Protestant  world  and  sent  a  thrill  of  joy  through 
the  heart  of  every  Catholic  of  the  land.  It  was  like  an 


THE    PAULIST   JUBILEE  n 

unexpected  pause  in  the  battle,  a  temporary  truce  in  the 
conflict,  in  order  to  make  a  clear,  unmistakable,  and  almost 
defiant  proclamation  of  a  truth  which  the  world  needed  at 
that  precise  moment,  namely,  that  the  poverty,  the  humil- 
ity, the  contempt,  the  scorn,  the  social,  industrial,  and 
political  ostracism,  and  in  some  countries  the  bitter  and 
relentless  persecution  with  which  everything  connected  with 
Catholicity  is  visited,  are  not  the  stamp  of  ignominy  or 
the  marks  of  divine  disapproval,  but  badges  of  honor  and 
unimpeachable  evidences  that  the  Holy  Catholic  Church 
is  in  reality  and  alone  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 

These  great  men  understood  that;  they  grasped  the  sub- 
lime truth  that  although  the  Catholic  Church  has  captivated 
the  greatest  minds,  has  counted  among  its  children  the 
most  gigantic  intellects  the  world  has  ever  known,  though 
it  has  received  the  allegiance  of  the  wealthy  and  powerful 
of  every  age  and  every  country,  nay,  has  even  placed  the 
halo  of  sanctity  upon  the  brows  of  mighty  kings  and  con- 
querors, yet  in  the  main  it  is  the  Church  of  the  humble 
and  the  poor;  necessarily  so  because  it  is  the  Church  of 
the  multitude,  and  proclaimed  as  such  by  its  Divine 
Founder,  who  gives  it  as  one  of  the  marks  by  which  it 
may  be  known,  that  the  poor  have  the  Gospel  preached 
to  them.  Not  only  that,  but  it  is  poverty  and  lowliness 
that  are  most  conducive  to  sanctity;  for  there  are  millions 
of  saints  among  the  poor  and  comparatively  few  among 
the  great  ones  of  the  world.  Christ  Himself  arrayed 
Himself  in  the  royal  robes  of  poverty  and  invited  the 
scorn  and  contempt  and  persecutions  of  the  world;  and 
following  His  divine  example  myriads  of  the  noblest  of  men 
and  women  have  flung  aside  all  the  glory  and  wealth  and 
enjoyment  the  world  held  out  to  them,  and  not  only  en- 
tered upon  a  life  of  poverty,  want,  and  subjection,  mak- 
ing themselves  objects  of  pity  and  reproach  to  their  fellow- 
men,  but  have  bound  themselves  by  solemn  vows  before 


12  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

the  altar  to  live  and  die  in  the  consecrated  livery  of  their 
Master.  Like  St.  Paul,  they  gloried  in  their  infirmities, 
knowing  that  they  are  the  stigmata  of  Christ. 

In  a  word,  there  are  two  armies  in  the  field  —  one 
making  use  of  material  and  physical  weapons;  the  other 
flinging  them  aside  and  employing  spiritual  and  supernatu- 
ral arms  to  conquer.  To  the  natural  man  the  Church  is 
weak,  helpless,  hopeless,  often  trodden  underfoot  and 
crushed;  but  to  the  spiritual  man  it  is  ever  rising  again 
with  renewed  strength  and  vigor  and  continuing  in  its 
magnificent  progress  to  greater  victories. 

It  is  the  inability  to  grasp  this  divine  fact  which  explains 
why  so  many  otherwise  excellent  men  balk  at  entering  the 
Catholic  Church.  But  by  a  special  illumination  of  the  in- 
tellect which  the  infinite  and  unexplainable  mercy  of  God 
bestowed  upon  the  single-minded  men  of  whom  we  are 
speaking,  this  weakness  was  a  glory  and  not  a  reproach; 
it  was  a  mark  of  divine  predestination.  They  made  the 
step  and  proffered  their  allegiance  to  the  banner  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

They  came  to  the  Catholic  Church  at  a  time  when  the 
outbreaks  and  outrages  of  Knownothingism  were  not  only 
still  fresh  in  men's  memories,  but  were  actually  occurring; 
when  the  warrior  prelate  of  New  York,  Archbishop 
Hughes,  was  maintaining  his  unaided  fight  against  bigotry, 
misrepresentation,  calumny,  and  injustice;  when  there  were 
scandals  and  tumults  even  inside  the  fold;  when  the  main 
body  of  the  faithful  verified  what  St.  Paul  said  of  the 
early  Christians :  "  there  are  not  many  rich,  not  many 
powerful,  not  many  learned."  It  was  a  time  when  Catho- 
lics were  mostly  immigrants  or  their  immediate  descendants, 
almost  exclusively  of  the  laboring  classes,  and  regarded 
with  mistrust  and  suspicion  as  foreigners  whom  their  ene- 
mies had  determined  to  keep  in  subjection,  and  who  to 
all  appearances  would  be  forever  debarred  from  all  social, 


THE    PAULIST   JUBILEE  13 

business,  or  political  preferment  by  those  who  held  in  their 
possession  the  wealth  and  power  of  the  land. 

But  nevertheless  this  earnest  and  resolute  group  of  men 
who  had  determined  to  do  what  was  right  at  any  cost,  in 
spite  of  their  worldly  ambitions,  in  spite  of  their  intense 
class  and  race  prejudices  which  they  had  inherited  and 
with  which  they  were  imbued,  deliberately  turned  their 
backs  on  their  families,  friends,  possessions,  hopes,  and 
ambitions,  and  cast  their  lot  with  the  despised  helots  of 
the  country;  not  thinking  they  had  conferred  a  favor,  how- 
ever, but  thanking  God  that  they  were  the  recipients  of 
an  unspeakable  blessing  to  which  they  had  absolutely  no 
right.  No  wonder  Catholics  rejoiced,  while  all  the  world 
wondered. 

Their  coming  also  announced  another  truth,  namely,  that 
the  Catholic  Church,  which  is  the  City  of  God,  is  the  City 
of  the  Soul.  Their  own  minds  had  long  been  darkened 
by  all  sorts  of  religious  error.  They  had  followed  delu- 
sive and  dangerous  lights  over  rocks  and  bogs  and  fens, 
and  now  by  God's  loving  grace  they  had  been  led  to  see 
that  the  truths  of  salvation  were  to  be  found  only  in  that 
City  which  the  Son  of  God  had  built,  and  therefore  not- 
withstanding the  clamorous  criticisms  of  their  own  people 
who  ascribed  their  act  publicly  and  privately  to  intellectual 
divagation,  they  continued  on  their  course,  clearly  com- 
prehending that  it  is  not  intellectual  slavery  to  submit  to 
authority,  on  what  is  hopelessly  beyond  one's  mental  reach, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  that  it  is  the  supremest  intellectual 
folly  to  do  otherwise,  and  therefore  with  inexpressible  joy 
of  heart  they  accepted  the  teachings  of  the  Divine  Re- 
deemer, whom  they  saw  clearly  speaking  in  the  utterances 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  consequence  was  that  they 
who,  sincere  though  they  were  in  their  seeking,  had  up  to 
that  known  no  security  in  what  alone  it  is  essential  to 
grasp,  namely,  the  teachings  upon  which  man's  salvation 


i4  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

depend,  entered  at  last  into  the  possession  of  divine  peace 
when  they  knelt  at  the  steps  of  the  altar  and  pronounced 
the  words,  credo  in  sanctum,  catholicam  et  apostolicam  ec- 
clesiam;  not  only  the  letter  of  its  pronouncement,  but  its 
spirit,  its  mind,  its  intent. 

Properly  then  do  we  raise  our  voices  in  Jubilee  to  re- 
vive the  memory  of  the  blessed  men  which  is  so  identified 
with  the  fifty  years'  history  of  this  church.  But  while  we 
are  rejoicing  on  earth  in  hymns  and  canticles  and  speech 
which  imperfectly  convey  what  is  in  the  heart,  may  we  not 
in  these  surroundings  where  our  hearts  are  allured  to 
celestial  things  hear  an  answering  strain  from  the  Jubilee 
of  heaven,  namely,  the  united  song  of  these  companions 
in  trial  and  triumph,  the  departed  Paulists,  glorifying  God 
for  His  boundless  mercy  and  bidding  us  remember  that 
greater  than  all  riches  and  power  and  glory  of  the  world 
is  the  privilege  of  dwelling  in  the  City  of  God,  in  which 
are  the  light  and  the  life  and  the  peace  which  come  from 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  They  knew  that  in  their  lifetime 
and  they  know  it  more  than  ever  now;  and  their  prayers 
arise  with  more  than  usual,  love  to  the  throne  of  God, 
ardently  praying  for  us  to  remember  that  without  the 
Kingdom  of  God  on  earth  there  cannot  be  for  us  a  King- 
dom of  God  in  heaven. 


Consecration  of  Bishop  McDonnell 
of  Brooklyn 

St  Patrick's  Cathedral,  New  York,  April  25,  1892 


1 


H  O-DAY  we  are  assembled  in  this  glorious  temple 
for  the  coronation  of  another  prince  of  the  Holy 
Church.  It  is  the  festival  of  St.  Mark.  And 
to-day  every  priest  has  repeated  in  his  matins  the  story 
of  how  Mark,  being  the  disciple  and  interpreter  of  Peter, 
wrote  a  Gospel  according  to  what  he  had  heard  Peter 
narrating,  which  Peter  approved  and  gave  to  the  Church, 
stamped  with  his  own  authority;  and  how  Mark,  taking 
the  book  with  him,  went  to  Alexandria  and  established  the 
Church  there  with  so  much  learning  and  so  much  holiness 
that  all  were  constrained  to  follow  his  example.  There 
is  a  peculiar  fitness,  I  think,  in  the  coincidence  of  that  act 
with  the  consecration  of  to-day.  St.  Mark  could  not 
have  been  sent  to  found  the  bishopric  of  Alexandria  un- 
less he  were  the  interpreter  and  disciple  of  St.  Peter, 
and  the  fact  of  his  being  so  careful  an  interpreter  and  so 
faithful  a  disciple  is  sufficient  to  explain  the  importance 
which  Alexandria  subsequently  acquired  in  the  Church  of 
God.  For  to  be  the  interpreter  of  St.  Peter  was  to  be  the 
echo  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  hence  from  the  time  that  the 
chief  of  the  Apostles  stood  up  in  the  Council  of  Jerusalem 
till  to-day,  when  the  voice  of  Leo  is  commanding  the  at- 
tention of  the  world,  he  is  the  oracle  of  the  truths  which 
men  need  to  know. 

"  Happy  Church  of  Rome,"  says  Tertullian,  "  on  whose 
soil  the  Apostles  wrote  their  doctrine  in  their  blood,  and 
where  the  death  of  Peter  was  so  like  that  of  the  Lord." 


1 6  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

"  Amid  the  clamor  of  contending  factions,"  exclaims  St. 
Jerome,  "  I  cry  out,  ''Who  belongs  to  the  Chair  of  Peter 
is  for  me.'  Therefore  do  I  implore  your  beatitude  by  the 
cross  of  the  Lord  and  by  the  necessary  glory  of  our  faith, 
the  Passion  of  Christ,  if  you  who  follow  the  Apostle  in 
honor  would  follow  him  in  merit,  if  you  are  to  sit  in  judg- 
ment with  the  twelve  on  the  throne,  if  you  are  to  be  girded 
like  Peter  in  your  old  age,  despise  not  my  soul  which  Christ 
died  for,  but  tell  me  with  whom  I  am  to  communicate  in 
this  strange  and  barbarous  land."  "  Tossed  by  many  tem- 
pests I  have  come  late  to  this  venerable  synod,"  says  the 
apostolic  legate  at  the  Council  of  Ephesus,  "  and  have 
heard  the  holy  acclamations  of  this  august  body  greet  the 
letters  of  our  blessed  Pope.  Read,  then,  the  decrees  which 
you  have  made  that  we  may  sanction  what  you  have 
imposed." 

And  so  it  has  been  in  every  age  of  the  Church  and  in 
every  battle  which  the  Church  has  fought.  The  appeal 
has  been  always  to  one  man,  and  only  one,  who  could 
speak  with  the  voice  of  Him  who  conquered  the  world. 
His  place  was  in  the  centre  of  the  world's  civilization,  and 
it  is  by  the  faith  which  He  taught  that  the  Son  of  God 
has  conquered,  and  conquered  with  an  irresistibleness  that 
made  Tertullian  exclaim:  "We  are  only  of  yesterday  and 
have  filled  the  world."  Hesterni  sumus  et  implevlmus 
omnia.  It  is  that  faith  which  has  made  idolatry  a  condi- 
tion of  soul  which  can  never  occur  again;  it  is  that  faith 
which  was  uttered  like  the  creative  word  over  the  chaos 
of  paganism,  and  which  said  "  Let  there  be  light  "  and  there 
was  light.  With  it  the  Holy  Spirit  moved  over  the  void, 
and  multitudes  of  every  race  rose  up  to  testify  by  the  holi- 
ness of  their  lives  and  the  shedding  of  their  blood  to  the 
truth  of  its  teaching.  That  faith  taught  the  world  to  be 
free  not  only  from  the  thraldom  of  passion,  but,  in  what 
affected  the  soul,  made  it  independent  of  the  greatest 


CONSECRATION  OF  BISHOP  McDONNELL     17 

powers  that  ever  wielded  an  earthly  sceptre ;  and  it  emerged 
from  the  first  great  struggle  to  see  its  symbol  glittering 
on  royal  diadems  and  the  rulers  who  had  persecuted  it 
accepting  its  mandates  with  veneration  and  love. 

In  the  great  disaster  that  fell  upon  the  civilized  world 
when  the  invading  hordes  of  Vandals  and  Huns  and  Goths 
descended  in  a  whirlwind  of  fire  upon  Europe,  what  was 
it  but  the  faith  of  Peter  that  made  the  world  anew?  It 
is  one  of  the  commonplaces  of  history  how  it  met  those 
untamed  spirits  in  their  wild  career,  sent  the  ministers  of 
peace  back  with  them  into  their  northern  fastnesses,  bent 
their  necks  to  the  yoke  of  the  Gospel,  built  them  up  as 
nations,  and  made  the  thrones  of  their  rulers  bright  with 
examples  of  royal  sanctity.  Hence  it  is  that  Proudhon 
was  forced  to  say,  "  Theology  is  at  the  bottom  of  our 
laws."  The  dogmas  of  the  Gospel  formed  for  centuries 
the  bases  of  the  jurisprudence  of  Europe,  the  episcopal 
body  held  the  highest  place  in  the  national  assemblies,  the 
profession  of  faith  was  deemed  essential  to  legitimize  the 
possession  of  power,  and  the  ruler  sought  and  received  a 
religious  consecration.  As  with  David  of  old,  the  prophet 
of  God  poured  the  oil  upon  his  brow  and  made  him  sacred, 
imparting  the  divinity  which  "  did  hedge  round  the  king." 
Among  the  nations  the  pontiff  sat  as  the  judge,  the  father, 
and  the  sovereign,  habituating  them  to  the  ways  of  peace 
and  averting  bloodshed  by  the  veneration  which  he  inspired 
and  the  awe  with  which  his  anathema  was  regarded.  So 
that  if  Europe  to-day  is  not  the  blighted  wilderness  of 
Asia  and  northern  Africa,  once  splendid  in  the  glory  of 
their  civilizations,  it  is  because  there  has  reigned  at  its 
centre  for  centuries  a  power  that  has  always  been  and  will 
ever  be  the  champion  of  human  liberty,  the  defender  of 
the  oppressed,  the  light,  the  guide,  and  the  inspiration  of 
all  that  is  elevated  and  pure  and  noble  in  the  individual, 
the  family,  and  the  State. 


1 8  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

Not  only  is  this  true  of  Europe,  but  of  our  own  country 
as  well,  which  has  borrowed  its  legislation  and  derived 
its  traditions  from  the  same  source.  And  though  it  is 
slightly  beside  our  present  purpose,  it  may  not  be  amiss, 
now  that  the  thoughts  of  the  world  are  engaged  with  the 
anniversary  of  the  great  discovery,  to  call  attention  to  what 
you  are  aware  of  as  well  as  I,  that  the  faith  of  Peter  has 
put  its  stamp  upon  our  own  country  centuries  before  the 
birth  of  the  nation.  It  was  the  hand  of  the  Pope  that 
traced  the  line  across  the  globe  to  mark  the  course  of  the 
early  discoverers.  It  was  as  the  honored  ambassador  of 
sovereigns  whose  proudest  title  was  that  of  "  The  Catholic  " 
conferred  on  them  by  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  that  Columbus 
set  sail  in  his  Santa  Maria  to  spread  the  Faith  in  these  and 
other  lands. 

The  first  religious  ceremony  in  our  country  was  the  sol- 
emn sacrifice  of  the  Mass  offered  under  the  shadow  of  the 
cross.  The  most  daring  and  successful  explorers  were 
priests  bound  by  a  special  vow  to  the  See  of  'St.  Peter. 
There  was  sacerdotal  blood  mingling  in  the  waters  of  the 
Mohawk  when  the  Dutch  were  intrenched  at  the  Battery 
and  Fort  Orange  was  only  a  stockade.  Priests  were 
preaching  to  the  Indians  in  Maine  before  the  Pilgrims 
landed  on  Plymouth  Rock,  and  were  consecrating  the  soil 
of  Virginia  by  their  martyrdom  long  before  the  cavaliers 
entered  the  river  James.  From  Pascua  Florida,  the  land  of 
the  Flowery  Easter,  to  the  St.  Lawrence;  from  St.  Mary's 
Bay  in  the  Chesapeake  to  San  Francisco  on  the  Pacific, 
there  are  everywhere,  on  our  lakes  and  rivers  and  moun- 
tains and  cities,  traces  which  can  never  be  effaced  and 
claims  that  can  never  be  disputed  that  the  Catholic  religion 
sent  hither  by  the  See  of  Rome  owes  no  apology  to  anyone 
in  this  land,  but  is  above  and  beyond  all  others  to  the 
manor  born  and  native  to  the  soil. 

But  times  have  changed  since  Catholicity  was  an  official 


CONSECRATION  OF  BISHOP  McDONNELL     19 

power  in  the  assembly  of  nations  and  since  Catholic  navi- 
gators set  sail  with  the  blessings  of  the  Pope  on  their 
caravels.  The  great  religious  revolt  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, which  was  mostly  a  political  rebellion  against  the  See 
of  Rome,  has  effected  a  disintegration  which  promises  to 
be  as  disastrous  as  that  which  swept  away  the  last  vestiges 
of  the  earlier  civilization  of  Europe.  For  what  is  the 
condition  of  the  intellectual  world  outside  of  the  Catholic 
Church  to-day?  "A  little  careful  memory,"  says  a  recent 
writer  who  knows  whereof  he  speaks  and  who  is  not  a 
Catholic,  "  a  little  careful  observation  will  reveal  a  spec- 
tacle that  is  indeed  appalling,  and  the  more  carefully  we 
examine  it  the  more  shall  we  feel  aghast  at  it.  There  has 
been  a  gradual  dereligionizing  of  life,  a  slow  sublimating 
out  of  its  concrete  theism,  and  at  present  a  denial  of  re- 
ligious dogma  more  complete  than  has  ever  been  known." 

Nor  could  it  be  otherwise.  For  the  enemy  that  assailed 
the  Papacy  meant  the  destruction  of  the  Church,  the  re- 
jection of  the  Bible,  and  the  contempt  of  all' authority, 
civil  and  religious.  And  now  under  the  teachings  of  posi- 
tivism, agnosticism  or  pessimism,  or  whatever  the  new 
evangel  may  be  called  (and  they  were  all  hailed  as  such),  it 
is  making  God  Himself  only  a  reminiscence  and  the  spiritu- 
ality of  the  soul  only  one  more  of  the  delusions  that  have 
drifted  away  into  the  past.  And  the  will  follows  soon 
where  the  mind  points  to  evil,  and  from  a  widespread 
denial  of  religious  belief  comes  a  wider  spread  moral  de- 
pravity and  corruption.  For  why 

"  Am  I  to  be  overawed 
By  what  I  cannot  but  know 
Is  a  juggle  born  of  the  brain?  " 

Men  have  ceased  to  be  overawed,  and  the  "  juggle  born 
of  the  brain  "  is  making  sad  havoc  with  the  fierce  passions 
of  the  soul. 

In  the  matter  of  personal  purity  what  awful  strides  have 


20  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

been  made  in  the  feelings  and  words  and  methods,  both 
public  and  private,  from  the  reserve  and  delicacy  and 
restraint  of  a  few  years  ago.  Vice  is  brazen  in  its  pub- 
licity, and  the  literature  of  the  day  (which  is  a  fair  test  of 
morality)  has  sounded  such  depths  in  not  only  what  is  called 
realism,  but  in  what  claims  to  be  refinement,  that  even  the 
blasphemous  Renan  has  felt  himself  called  upon  to  depre- 
cate with  horror  and  disgust.  Look  at  the  family  outside 
of  the  Church,  how  it  is  waning  and  disappearing.  Divorce 
no  longer  forms  a  ban  in  society  nor  brings  a  blush  to 
the  cheek  of  woman.  The  consequence  of  this  and  other 
things  connected  with  it  are  so  disastrous  as  to  threaten 
the  very  existence  of  nations. 

And  the  governments  of  the  world,  whither  are  they 
drifting?  Drifting?  They  are  driving,  and,  like  Jehu, 
driving  furiously  over  the  dead  they  have  strewn  in  their 
pathway.  They  are  all  seeking,  professedly  or  thought- 
lessly, not  only  to  ignore  but  to  eliminate  the  Almighty 
from  everything  they  undertake  in  their  executive  actions, 
in  their  legislation,  in  their  schools,  nay,  in  their  very  hos- 
pitals and  on  the  battlefields  with  the  dying  and  the  dead. 
Take  France  as  an  example,  which  is  foremost  in  the  mad 
race.  "  One  hundred  years  ago,"  said  Clemenceau  in  a 
recent  debate,  "  we  said  to  the  Tiers  Etat,  '  What  were 
you  yesterday?  Nothing.  What  will  you  be  to-morrow? 
Everything.'  To-day  we  reverse  the  question  and  ask  the 
Church,  *  What  were  you  yesterday  ?  Everything.  What 
will  you  be  to-morrow?  Nothing.'  We  cannot  destroy 
you,  for  you  are  a  spiritual  power,  but  in  all  we  do  you 
shall  have  nothing  to  say." 

And  the  governed,  what  of  them?  For  the  answer  to 
that  listen  to  the  anarchist  dynamite  exploding  in  church 
and  court  and  legislative  chamber,  from  Madrid  to  St. 
Petersburg.  What  are  the  thoughts  of  the  famishing  mil- 
lions in  Russia,  and  of  the  hungry  multitudes  escaping  from 


CONSECRATION  OF  BISHOP  McDONNELL     21 

bankrupt  Italy?  What  is  the  meaning  of  the  rattling  sabres 
in  the  streets  of  Paris  and  Berlin,  of  the  angry  murmurs 
and  the  fierce  unrest  of  the  toilers  in  every  land?  What 
is  the  purpose  of  the  mighty  armies  taken  from  the  labors 
of  peace  and  waiting  for  the  signal  or  an  accident  to  bring 
ruin  upon  the  civilization  of  to-day  more  complete  than 
the  Huns  and  Vandals  of  other  times?  They  were  dis- 
organized hordes,  but  their  successors  are  trained  for  de- 
struction. They  were  freebooters,  but  to-day  the  very 
priests  are  dragged  from  the  altar  to  the  barracks,  and 
the  sad  sight  is  presented  in  this  age  of  emancipations, 
of  a  great  part  of  the  civilized  world  in  the  enforced 
slavery  of  military  life  and  another  begging  for  bread. 

"Religion,  blushing,  veils  her  sacred  fires, 
And  unawares  morality  expires, 
Lo!  thy  dread  empire  chaos  is  restored; 
Light  dies  before  Thy  uncreative  word: 
Thy  hand,  Great  Anarch,  lets  the  curtain  fall, 
And  universal  darkness  buries  all." 

Who  is  the  one  who  is  to  deliver  us  from  all  this? 
Who  but  the  one  who  did  it  before?  Leo  confronted  the 
wild  Attila,  who  was  burning  the  cities  of  Europe,  making 
his  track  a  wilderness.  Leo  and  his  successors  can  alone 
avert  the  disaster,  and,  if  salvation  is  refused  and  the  end 
comes,  can  construct  another  civilization  out  of  the  ruins, 
if,  indeed,  there  is  to  be  another.  Listen  to  his  words, 
addressed  to  the  infidel  governments  of  to-day:  "If  the 
State  refuse  to  give  God  His  rights,  it  will  refuse  its  citi- 
zens theirs,"  and  that,  by  the  very  fact,  implies  self- 
destruction.  And,  as  an  echo  of  this  warning,  scarce  a 
month  ago,  in  the  columns  of  the  Dritto,  as  if  in  mockery 
of  its  name  The  Right,  under  the  very  walls  where 
the  pontiff  is  held  in  durance  comes  the  appeal  to  the 
people  to  use  their  knowledge  of  the  chemistry  of  explo- 
sives to  destroy  the  governments  which  they  cannot  over- 
come. The  governments  themselves  are  now  in  consterna- 


22  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

tion  as  each  returning  May  day  brings  its  dark  clouds  fore- 
boding evil.  And  so  it  must  be;  for  the  absence  of  God 
always  means  ruin. 

It  is  precisely  this  exclusion  of  God  from  the  State  that 
so  alarms  the  Catholic  mind;  alarms  it  indeed  on  every 
point  where  this  exclusion  is  exercised,  but  most  of  all  in 
that  question  so  agitated  to-day,  the  education  of  youth. 
There,  if  anywhere,  it  must  enter  or  the  State  will  infallibly 
perish.  It  is  an  alarm  prompted  by  the  purest  patriotism 
and  the  plainest  wisdom,  for  it  can  be  said  without  fear 
of  contradiction  that  there  are  no  truer  patriots  and  none 
with  a  clearer  vision  for  such  dangers  than  those  who  are 
in  touch  with  the  teachings  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Whose 
voice  is  it  that  speaks  to  the  world  of  the  sanctity  and  in- 
violability of  the  marriage  tie,  so  recklessly  disregarded 
outside  of  the  Catholic  Church?  It  is  the  voice  of  the 
successor  of  Peter,  who,  while  he  points  to  the  evils  of  the 
most  awful  kind  that  flow  from  its  violation,  reminds  the 
world  that  around  it  revolve  all  that  is  pure  in  man  or 
woman,  all  that  guards  the  innocency  of  sweet  childhood 
and  makes  the  home,  even  of  the  poorest,  an  earthly  para- 
dise. It  was  the  successor  of  Peter  who  raised  above  this 
adulterous  generation  the  beautiful  figure  of  the  immacu- 
late Mother  and  Virgin  and  bade  the  world  see  in  her  what 
is  truly  worthy  of  love  and  honor  in  man  and  womankind. 
It  is  he  who  speaks  to  the  toiler  of  to-day  and  points  to 
Him  who  was  Himself  a  toiler,  Jesus  Christ.  And,  finally, 
with  a  special  reference  to  the  needs  of  this  age  of  bewilder- 
ment and  doubt,  he  promulgated  the  doctrine  of  his  own 
infallibility.  It  startled  the  world  indeed,  and  so  did  the 
pillar  of  fire  startle  the  Israelites  in  the  desert,  but  it  led 
them  to  the  promised  land. 

It  is  through  such  as  you,  Right  Reverend  Father  in 
God,  it  is  by  your  call  to  such  a  distinguished  position  in  the 
illustrious  hierarchy  of  the  Church  in  America,  that  the 


CONSECRATION  OF  BISHOP  McDONNELL     23 

successor  of  St.  Peter  preaches  this  gospel  of  salvation. 
Like  St.  Mark  in  the  early  day,  you  are  His  disciple  and 
interpreter.  You  are  going,  not  like  him  to  Alexandria, 
into  a  new  land,  but  into  a  great  church,  which  a  noble 
pioneer  of  the  faith  planted  and  strengthened  and  adorned. 
You  are  going  into  a  territory  that  had  scarce  a  cross  or 
spire  when  he  raised  his  crozier  above  it  forty  years  ago, 
and  now  after  a  lifetime  of  toil,  continued  to  the  very  end, 
when  he  lay  down  in  his  coffin  with  the  royal  robes  of 
poverty  about  him,  having  built  it  up  for  God,  he  entrusts 
it  to  you,  rich  in  its  magnificent  churches,  strong  in  its 
splendid  charities  and  schools,  with  a  zealous  and  devoted 
clergy  and  a  flock  of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million, 
all  on  fire  with  zeal  for  the  Church  of  Christ. 

All  this,  I  know,  only  fills  you  the  more  with  consterna- 
tion. But  there  are  many  things  which  seem  like  bright 
harbingers  of  a  great  and  happy  episcopate.  Do  you  re- 
member how  when  death  was  palsying  the  lips  of  the  dying 
prelate  that  almost  his  last  words  were  unexpectedly  ad- 
dressed to  you,  giving  you  for  a  moment  almost  episcopal 
power?  Perhaps  at  that  solemn  hour  it  was  vouchsafed 
him  to  penetrate  the  darkness  that  was  closing  round  him. 
Why  should  it  not  be  so  for  the  one  who  had  stood  long 
before  the  mystic  veil  of  the  altar  of  sacrifice?  There  have 
come  spontaneously  from  every  side  evidences  of  a  warm 
and  enthusiastic  welcome  increased  by  the  quick  honor  of 
your  elevation,  and  who  can  doubt  but  that  it  is  a  prophecy 
of  the  future  and  that  the  brightness  of  to-day  will  remain 
with  you  not  merely  as  a  memory,  but  as  a  widening  and 
deepening  reality  through  the  labors  and  difficulties  of  your 
new  and  great  career?  It  is  the  realm  in  which  you  alone 
can  live,  and  the  sweetness  and  gentleness  of  your  own 
nature  will  reflect  the  sunshine  even  more  abundantly  than 
it  is  bestowed. 

You  are  leaving  a  most  honored  and  beloved  prelate 


24  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

who  is  tenderly  attached  to  you,  but  who  finds  consolation, 
no  doubt,  in  the  thought  that  the  white  spires  of  St. 
Patrick's  will  hail  with  delight  the  towers  of  the  Cathedral 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  as  they  rise  heavenward, 
to  be  together  perpetual  reminders,  in  sunshine  and  storm, 
to  the  millions  that  look  up  to  them  that  it  is  the  faith 
which  they  represent  and  it  alone  which  can  strengthen 
the  walls  of  the  social  fabric,  giving  dignity  and  freedom 
to  the  individual,  honor  and  perpetuity  to  the  family,  pro- 
tection and  stability  to  the  State. 

Your  diocese  lies  upon  a  beautiful  island,  with  the  life 
and  action  and  freshness  of  the  mighty  ocean  around  it. 
On  both  sides  of  its  long  expanse,  the  wealth  of  all  the 
world  is  brought  in  stately  ships;  the  travellers  from  every 
land  first  gaze  upon  your  city  when  the  mists  of  ocean 
lift  from  their  eyes.  With  the  great  metropolis  bound  to 
it  not  only  by  its  mighty  bridge  of  steel,  but  by  the  stronger 
ties  of  kinship  and  religion,  the  influence  that  must  be 
exerted  upon  the  Christian  Church  almost  defies  calcula- 
tion. Greater  In  the  number  of  Catholics,  more  gigantic 
in  the  work  of  evangelization,  more  cosmopolitan  and  con- 
sequently more  Catholic  than  any  other  religious  centre 
upon  our  hemisphere,  their  united  voices  must  ever  com- 
mand the  greatest  attention,  their  course  be  noted  with  the 
greatest  concern,  and  their  action  invariably  followed  by 
the  most  stupendous  results.  May  we  not  rest  assured 
that,  like  the  Church  of  Alexandria,  both  doctrine  and  holi- 
ness will  ever  distinguish  these  mighty  Sees,  the  mother 
and  daughter  who  sit  side  by  side  at  the  shores  of  the 
ocean,  and  that  the  waves  that  break  at  their  feet  will 
ever  bear  to  the  Rock  upon  which  the  Church  is  built,  the 
Gospel  of  Peter,  the  glad  tidings  of  Christ,  brought  into 
the  souls  of  men,  into  the  sacred  circle  of  families,  and 
into  the  destinies  of  our  great  and  glorious  nation! 


Silver  Jubilee  of  Bishop  McDonnell 
of  Brooklyn 

St  James'  Pro-Cathedral,  Brooklyn,  April  25, 1917 

RIGHT  REVEREND  BISHOP.  — It  would  not 
be  rash  to  surmise  that  when  the  glory  of  the 
mitre  rested  on  your  brow  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathe- 
dral, on  St.  Mark's  Day,  1892,  you  never  imagined  that 
after  a  quarter  of  a  century  had  passed  with  its  burdens 
of  cares  and  responsibilities  you  would  be  celebrating  the 
anniversary  of  that  event.  The  condition  of  your  health 
at  that  time  would  have  compelled  you  to  dismiss  any  such 
fancy  as  an  unrealizable  dream.  But  the  wonderful  is 
always  quietly  happening  in  Brooklyn.  Your  venerable 
predecessor,  for  instance,  who  has  incidentally  contrived 
to  make  this  celebration  coincide  with  the  centennial  of  his 
birth  (for  he  first  saw  the  light  of  day  in  1817),  suc- 
ceeded, in  spite  of  the  hardships  and  privations  of  those 
early  days,  in  administering  the  diocese  for  the  unusual 
space  of  thirty-eight  years.  You,  Right  Reverend  Bishop, 
bid  fair  to  rival  him  in  that  respect;  but,  in  any  case,  for 
a  see  to  have  had  only  two  Bishops  during  sixty-three  years 
is  a  very  unusual  event  in  ecclesiastical  history. 

Your  people,  also,  seem  to  delight  in  the  unusual.  Thus 
your  friend  and  classmate,  Right  Reverend  Bishop,  the 
devoted  and  painstaking  historiographer  of  Catholicism  in 
Brooklyn,  notes  that  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  this  city 
was  dragged  to  court  for  refusing  to  support  a  Protestant 
place  of  worship  and  was  also  charged  with  "  alleging  the 
frivolous  excuse  that  he  was  a  Catholic."  In  our  time  we 
no  longer  allege  the  frivolous  excuse  of  being  Catholics. 


26  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

On  the  contrary,  had  it  not  been  for  the  state  of  war  in 
which  we  unhappily  find  ourselves,  a  great  triumphal  pro- 
cession through  the  streets  of  the  city  would  have  pro- 
claimed the  fact  that  our  fellow-citizens  are  at  one  with  us 
in  rejoicing  at  the  astonishing  progress  of  the  Kingdom 
of  God,  recognizing  as  they  and  we  do  that  the  spiritual 
and  moral  growth  which  this  celebration  glorifies  is  the 
most  important  element  in  the  stability  and  prosperity  of 
a  city  or  nation. 

The  Catholics  of  Brooklyn  were  only  a  handful  at  the 
beginning,  now  they  are  800,000  in  the  diocese;  they  had 
only  a  little  room  on  York  and  Gold  streets,  a  meeting 
place  that  recalls  the  Upper  Room  of  the  Apostles  and 
which  on  that  account  ought  to  be  one  of  Brooklyn's  most 
cherished  sanctuaries;  at  present  there  are  two  hundred 
and  fifty  or  two  hundred  and  sixty  beautiful  and  in  many 
places  splendid  churches,  chapels,  and  shrines  where  God 
is  worshipped.  Then  an  occasional  priest  crossed  the  East 
River  in  a  rowboat  to  say  Mass  and  hear  confessions; 
now  more  than  five  hundred  priests  live  in  the  midst  of 
prosperous  congregations,  providing  for  every  spiritual 
necessity  of  their  flocks,  while  colleges,  schools,  convents, 
asylums,  and  hospitals  are  scattered  with  a  divine  profu- 
sion from  one  end  of  the  island  to  the  other.  No  wonder 
that  forty  thousand  children  were  baptized  last  year  and 
that  seven  thousand  adults  were  admitted  into  the  fold. 

Do  you  know  any  other  Cathedral  which  happens  to 
be  likewise  the  mother  church  of  the  diocese,  where  the 
venerated  remains  of  the  first  pioneers  of  the  faith  encircle 
as  with  a  crown  the  altar  where  they  first  knelt  to  worship 
God?  In  defence  of  that  first  beloved  altar  the  heroic 
men  and  women  who  slumber  here  would  have  willingly 
given  their  lives,  and  hence  it  is  eminently  proper  that 
their  consecrated  remains  should  still  guard  it.  Indeed, 
the  document  they  drew  up  petitioning  for  a  resident  pastor 


SILVER  JUBILEE  OF  BISHOP  McDONNELL    27 

seems  almost  prophetic  of  these  conditions.  "  In  the  first 
place,"  they  said,  "  we  want  our  children  instructed  in 
the  principles  of  our  holy  religion;  we  want  more  con- 
venience for  hearing  the  word  of  God  ourselves;  we  want 
a  church,  a  pastor,  and  a  place  for  our  interment." 

These  are  not  only  unusual  but  extraordinary  words  and 
deserve  to  be  written  in  letters  of  gold  on  the  walls  of  this 
Cathedral  as  they  are  already  in  bronze  on  the  Turner 
Memorial,  to  keep  them  forever  in  our  memories:  "The 
word  of  God;  the  principles  of  our  holy  faith,  and  a  place 
for  our  interment."  It  recalls  vividly  the  chapter  of  St. 
Mark  when  he  tells  of  the  Resurrection.  Instead  of  show- 
ing us  Christ  in  splendor  and  glory,  as  a  contrast  with  the 
disgrace,  the  dishonor,  and  the  apparently  hopeless  and 
eternal  defeat  of  the  Crucifixion,  the  Evangelist  merely 
says:  "Very  early  in  the  morning,  three  women  went  out 
to  see  the  sepulchre ;  and  a  young  man  clothed  in  white  — 
it  was  not  even  said  that  he  was  an  angel  —  said,  '  He  is 
not  here,  He  has  risen;  see  the  place  where  they  have  laid 
Him.  Go  and  tell  His  brethren,  He  will  precede  them  into 
Galilee.'  " 

In  the  same  way,  in  the  early  dawn  of  Brooklyn's  Cathol- 
icism this  little  group  of  men  and  women  were  looking 
for  a  grave;  not  an  ordinary  grave,  but  one  over  which 
an  angel  would  stand  one  day  and  say  for  each  of  them, 
"He  is  risen,  He  is  not  here;  go  and  tell  the  brethren 
He  will  precede  them  into  Galilee,  into  heaven."  That 
document  was  a  Declaration  of  Independence;  an  Eman- 
cipation from  what  usually  absorbs  the  energies  of  the 
world;  a  Proclamation  that  the  only  worthy  thing  in  human 
existence  is  so  to  live  that  when  we  pass  from  the  scene, 
the  Cross  of  Christ  may  rise  above  our  ashes  and  announce 
to  our  family  and  our  fellow-men  that  "  here  are  the 
precious  remains  of  one  who  awaits  the  glory  and  the  joy 
of  the  Resurrection." 


28  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

There  is  another  unusual  feature  in  this  celebration, 
which,  though  personal,  must,  I  think,  in  the  present  cir- 
cumstances be  referred  to.  It  is  that  the  preacher  who 
occupied  the  pulpit  if  he  did  not  fill  it  at  the  Consecration, 
enjoys  a  similar  distinction  on  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary 
of  that  auspicious  event. 

That  the  original  invitation  was  personal  to  the  Bishop- 
elect  has  always  been  a  delightful  memory  to  the  recipient; 
that  it  was  renewed  on  the  tenth  anniversary  emphasized 
that  pleasure ;  and  coming  now  on  the  occasion  of  the  Silver 
Jubilee,  it  is  accepted  as  an  assurance  that  the  esteem  and 
regard  which  it  implies  was  not,  in  any  way,  impaired 
during  that  long  stretch  of  years;  and  it  is  all  the  more 
comforting  and  consoling  because  it  comes  at  a  time  when 
the  shadows  are  beginning  to  gather  and  the  beloved 
friends  of  earlier  days  are  fast  passing  away.  Perhaps, 
too,  the  appreciation  of  the  honor  is  instinctive,  inasmuch 
as  for  more  than  seventy  years  the  men  and  women  of 
my  own  immediate  family  were  spiritually  formed  and 
fashioned  at  this  holy  altar  of  St.  James'  Cathedral.  There 
I  myself  often  knelt  as  a  boy;  and  your  predecessor  did 
me  the  honor,  fifty  years  ago,  of  asking  me  to  go  to  Rome 
to  study  for  the  Brooklyn  diocese.  Had  I  accepted  it  I 
would  be  one  of  this  clergy  to-day.  Perhaps  that  is  why 
so  much  liberty  and  such  frequency  are  allowed  me  in  the 
pulpits  of  Brooklyn. 

Speaking  at  your  consecration,  I  ventured  to  call  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  the  Capitulum  in  the  Divine  Office 
related  how  St.  Mark,  after  having  written  his  Gospel, 
submitted  it  to  St.  Peter  for  his  blessing  and  approval. 
The  lesson  of  submission  and  attachment  to  the  Holy  See 
which  it  conveyed  was,  however,  absolutely  superfluous  for 
you,  for  the  simple  reason  that  almost  from  the  beginning 
of  your  life  you  were  indentified  with  Brooklyn.  Such  a 
conclusion  might  almost  seem  fanciful,  but  it  is  claimed 


SILVER  JUBILEE  OF  BISHOP  McDONNELL    29 

that  as  far  back  as  1524,  that  is,  almost  four  hundred  years 
ago,  Long  Island  was  called  by  the  old  Spanish  navigator, 
Gomez,  whose  caravels  skirted  these  shores,  "  the  Island 
of  the  Apostles."  He  had  sighted  it  on  June  29,  and  ac- 
cording to  the  custom  of  the  Catholic  sailors  of  those  days 
who  recorded  the  progress  of  their  voyage  by  dedicating 
the  places  they  discovered  to  the  hero  whom  the  Church 
was  honoring  on  that  day,  Gomez  christened  Long  Island 
as  the  land  of  Sts.  Peter  and  Paul.  Thus,  too,  the  first 
priests  of  Brooklyn  came  over  from  St.  Peter's  in  New 
York;  the  second  church  on  the  island  was  called  St.  Paul's, 
and  possibly  it  was  the  same  impulse  that  prompted  my 
venerable  and  venerated  friend  Father  Sylvester  Malone 
to  build  a  church  beyond  the  swamp  lands  of  Wallabout, 
in  honor  of  Sts.  Peter  and  Paul;  and  finally  the  typical 
Catholic  layman  of  Brooklyn,  whose  monument  stands  in 
front  of  this  Cathedral,  was  called  Peter  when  his  parents 
held  him  over  the  baptismal  font,  the  estimable  and  dis- 
tinguished Peter  Turner.  In  brief,  it  is  this  native  devo- 
tion of  Brooklyn,  prophesied  long  ago  by  the  old  Spanish 
explorers,  emphasized  by  the  first  settlers,  and  perpetuated 
by  their  descendants,  which,  apart  from  your  personal  quali- 
fications for  your  high  office  and  the  piety  of  your  people, 
explains  the  intuitive  correctness  of  your  teachings  and  the 
unqualified  success  of  your  administration. 

Intimately  connected  with  his  profession  of  allegiance 
to  the  See  of  Peter,  and  constituting  almost  its  corollary, 
is  that  other  declaration,  Right  Reverend  Bishop,  which 
forms  the  device  of  your  episcopal  coat  of  arms :  "  Pax, 
Peace." 

Peace  is  the  tranquillity  of  order,  the  condition  of  re- 
pose which  results  from  the  subordination  of  the  lower  to 
the  higher,  of  the  material  to  the  spiritual,  of  the  human 
to  the  divine.  The  maintenance  of  this  subordination  is 
essential  to  the  happiness  of  the  individual  as  well  as  to 


3o  VARIOUS   DISCOURSES 

the  happiness  of  the  family  of  which  he  is  a  member  and 
of  the  State  of  which  he  is  a  citizen.  Hence  it  is  the  in- 
dividual who  is  the  ultimate  and  determining  factor  of 
peace  and  consequently  of  happiness  in  every  sphere  of 
human  activity,  personal,  domestic,  and  political;  and  as 
in  the  special  designs  of  Divine  Providence  man  is  destined 
for  a  supernatural  end,  the  precept,  "  Seek  first  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven  and  all  the  rest  shall  be  added  unto  you," 
is  not  only  the  foundation  of  the  whole  moral  law  for  in- 
dividuals, but  an  invaluable  principle  of  political  economy, 
and  an  indispensable  means  in  the  acquisition,  growth,  and 
conservation  of  the  happiness  of  family  life. 

A  great  artist  of  a  century  or  two  ago  has  illustrated 
this  truth  in  a  well-known  painting,  in  which  the  Doge  of 
Venice  is  represented  kneeling  in  his  loggia  at  prayer. 
Outside,  through  the  open  window,  is  seen  the  fleet  of  the 
Republic  ostensibly  ready  for  war.  Before  the  suppliant 
Prince  appears  the  radiant  figure  of  Christ.  The  loggia 
is  flooded  with  light,  and  at  the  feet  of  the  Saviour  rests 
a  lion,  the  symbol  of  the  civic  power  of  Venice,  but,  in 
deliberate  defiance  of  the  laws  of  light  and  shade,  the  beast 
is  left  almost  completely  in  the  dark.  Only  the  lineaments 
are  discernible.  Had  the  illumination  been  more  intense, 
the  effacement  would  have  been  complete.  Meanwhile  the 
Doge  remains  at  prayer,  and  the  galleys  in  the  lagoon  ride 
quietly  at  anchor.  Christ  had  brought  peace  to  the 
Republic. 

Elsewhere  in  Venice  there  is  another  representation  of 
the  lion,  but  not  in  the  splendor  of  a  supernatural  illumina- 
tion. On  the  contrary,  it  stands  in  the  public  square,  on 
the  top  of  the  Gray  Pillar,  in  the  glare  and  glitter  of 
worldly  wealth  and  fashion  and  the  glory  of  civic,  com- 
mercial, and  warlike  achievement.  Its  head  is  erect,  its 
face  is  uplifted,  its  visage  is  marked  by  all  its  native 
ferocity,  its  muscles  are  tense  as  if  it  were  preparing  to 


SILVER  JUBILEE  OF  BISHOP  McDONNELL    31 

leap  at  its  prey,  and  the  artist  has  given  it  outstretched 
wings  to  fit  it,  as  it  were,  for  flight  into  the  heavens  above. 
But  those  wings  have  never  moved,  and  the  beast  is  still 
fixed  to  the  pedestal,  and  grows  blacker  and  grimier  as  the 
storms  and  the  sunlight  of  centuries  pass  over  it.  It  has 
eyes,  but  it  does  not  see  the  earth  beneath  nor  the  blue 
of  the  skies  overhead;  it  has  ears,  but  hears  neither  the 
strains  of  music  nor  the  rumbling  of  the  storm;  it  has  lithe 
limbs,  but  it  is  incapable  of  movement.  What  is  it  but 
the  type  of  those  old  philosophers  whom  St.  Paul  reproved 
and  of  their  modern  descendants,  who,  "  not  understand- 
ing the  invisible  things  of  God  from  the  things  that  are 
made,  have  become  vain  in  their  thoughts;  whose  foolish 
hearts  are  darkened;  and  who  have  changed  the  glory  of 
the  incorruptible  God  into  the  likeness  and  image  of  cor- 
ruptible man  and  of  birds  and  fourfooted  beasts  and 
creeping  things,"  the  men,  namely,  who  never  wearied  of 
boasting  that  revealed  religion  was  unnecessary  and  that 
unaided  reason  sufficed  to  discover  all  truth,  yet  who  failed 
to  find  even  the  Primal  Cause  or  the  Final  Consummation. 
The  result  is  that  for  them  there  is  no  God,  no  soul,  no 
conscience,  no  moral  law,  and  man  is  a  twin  brother  to 
the  brute.  Even  natural  religion  is  scoffed  at;  .the  very 
name  of  God  is  expunged  from  the  school  books  of  at  least 
one  great  nation;  the  churches  are  empty,  and  indecent 
theatres  are  thronged;  authority  is  scoffed  at,  and  organized 
anarchy  is  marshalling  its  forces  for  the  ruin  of  all  govern- 
ments; divorce  makes  marriage  only  successive  concubinage 
and  families  non-existent;  birth  control  is  discussed  in  the 
courts  and  dilated  upon  in  the  press;  abortion  is  counselled 
and  applauded;  public  indecency  becomes  more  brazen  every 
day,  and  carnal  indulgence  is  blasting  the  physical  life  of 
the  race;  finally,  the  greed  of  commercial  and  territorial 
expansion  has  plunged  the  world  into  a  war  so  hideous  in 
its  methods  and  so  awful  in  its  extent  that  men  are  fear- 


32  VARIOUS   DISCOURSES 

ing  the  final  disaster.  The  Lion  and  the  Bear  and  the 
double-headed  Eagles  are  rending  each  other;  the  dragon 
of  Japan  may  soon  enter  the  melee,  and  other  represen- 
tatives of  the  animal  creation  may  follow  or  be  forced 
into  the  carnage.  Black  savages  and  bloodthirsty  Turks, 
semi-barbarian  Serbs  and  Bulgarians  and  turbaned  Hin- 
doos and  nearly  all  the  civilized  nations  are  in  the  welter 
of  blood,  and  we  ourselves,  after  holding  out  so  long  for 
peace,  are  now  fighting  for  the  life  of  our  country,  which 
we  must  and  will  protect  at  any  cost  or  any  sacrifice. 

Whole  armies  are  mowed  down  like  grass;  armored 
cruisers  and  hospital  ships  and  defenceless  merchantmen  are 
sunk  in  an  instant  with  thousands  on  board ;  fighters  fly  like 
huge  vultures  in  the  clouds,  flash  like  fierce  fish  in  the 
depths  of  the  sea,  and  burrow  like  beasts  in  the  earth, 
awaiting  their  prey;  millions  of  warriors  are  wielding 
weapons  which  the  wonderful  science  of  the  day  has  per- 
fected to  such  a  degree  that  we  almost  regret  that  science 
of  that  kind  had  ever  been  engendered,  or  at  least  that 
reason  and  religion  and  morality  have  not  been  able  to 
control  it.  The  animal  man  is  in  the  ascendant,  and  in 
some  parts  of  the  strife  there  seems  to  be  a  special  malig- 
nity against  the  things  of  the  spirit,  which  shows  itself  in 
the  eagerness  with  which  churches  and  cathedrals  are 
levelled  or  desecrated  and  crimes  committed  which  have 
to  be  spoken  of  in  whispers.  Worst  of  all,  priests  are 
torn  from  the  altar  and  made  to  fight  side  by  side  with 
men  whose  trade  is  blood. 

Nor  is  there  apparently  any  hope  of  arresting  the  havoc. 
The  device  of  the  balance  of  power  has  failed,  peace  con- 
gresses have  failed,  public  opinion  has  failed;  voluntary 
disarmament  is  too  much  like  a  counsel  of  the  Gospel  for 
an  unbelieving  generation  to  adopt;  treaties  are  scraps  of 
paper;  the  bankers  who  promised  to  prevent  it  have 
financed  it,  and  even  the  Pope,  who  in  former  times  could 


SILVER  JUBILEE  OF  BISHOP  McDONNELL    33 

compel  warring  nations  to  lay  down  their  arms,  is  no 
longer  heeded,  and  it  is  a  sign  to  many  that  his  power  has 
forever  passed  away  and  even  that  Christianity  itself  has 
proved  a  failure. 

Yet  the  very  reverse  is  the  case,  and  what  is  now  going 
on  around  us  in  Brooklyn  is  a  proof  of  the  assertion.  For 
what  is  this  diocese  in  whose  achievements  we  are  to-day 
exulting?  What  are  all  the  dioceses  of  the  world  but 
sections,  portions,  divisions,  territories  of  the  universal  and 
visible  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth?  And  who  are  those 
who  govern  them  but  the  delegated  and  consecrated  repre- 
sentatives of  Him  who  is  the  Supreme  Ruler  and  the  Chief 
Shepherd,  the  Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ?  What  they  do  He 
does;  without  Him  they  would  be  absolutely  helpless. 
When  therefore  this  world-wide  Kingdom  exerts  an  influ- 
ence not  only  on  eight  hundred  thousand  souls,  as  here 
on  this  island,  but  on  countless  millions  in  every  clime  and 
nation  and  in  every  condition  of  life,  by  modifying,  check- 
ing, controlling,  curbing,  and  in  numberless  and  sublime 
instances  almost  completely  eradicating,  the  terrible  appe- 
tites of  the  animal  nature  of  men  and  substituting  for  them 
impulses  and  ambitions  that  are  noble,  elevating,  and  super- 
natural, it  is  clear,  even  though  in  individual  cases  it 
succeeds  only  to  a  slight  degree  or  not  at  all,  that  a  mighty 
power  is  at  work  in  the  interest  of  the  world's  peace  and 
is  succeeding  to  an  extent  that  defies  calculation.  For  sup- 
pose, if  you  can,  that  the  doctrines  and  morality  inculcated 
by  Christ,  not  only  those  which  the  Catholic  Church 
teaches,  but  that  all  the  shreds  and  remnants  and  vestiges 
which  have  remained,  despite  the  ravages  of  heresy  and 
schism,  were  completely  eliminated  from  the  world,  and 
that  man  were  left  absolutely  in  the  power  of  those  brutal 
instincts  by  which  he  is  prompted  to  such  a  frightful  extent 
to-day,  what  would  the  whole  world  be  but  hell?  It  is  in 
preventing  that  catastrophe  and  in  eliciting  splendid  exam- 


34  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

pies  of  Christian  piety  even  in  the  bloody  trenches  and 
reeking  battlefields  that  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  the  Repre- 
sentative of  Jesus  Christ,  displays  his  power  on  earth,  and 
makes  it  manifest  to  those  who  reflect  that  he  is  infinitely 
greater  than  if  he  were  merely  sending  back  an  Attila  to 
his  forests  or  putting  a  Henry  IV  on  his  knees  in  the  snows 
of  Canossa. 

It  is  to  effect  that  result,  namely,  to  subject  the  beast 
in  us  to  the  spirit,  that  the  Church  keeps  continually  before 
our  eyes  the  vision  of  Jesus  Christ.  Thus  we  see  Him 
in  the  multitudinous  churches  and  chapels  and  schools  and 
institutions  of  charity;  we  see  Him  in  the  lives,  nay,  in  the 
very  faces  of  thousands  and  thousands  whose  fidelity  to 
their  adoption  as  children  of  God  has  developed  a  resem- 
blance to  Him;  we  see  Him  in  the  uplifted  Host;  we  see 
Him  in  our  silent  visits  to  the  shrouded  tabernacles;  we 
see  Him  in  the  Sacraments  we  receive;  we  see  Him  in  the 
sorrows  we  suffer;  we  see  Him  in  the  cross  that  is  pressed 
to  our  lips  in  our  last  agony;  we  see  Him  in  the  cemeteries 
where  the  sign  of  salvation  is  raised  above  the  moulder- 
ing remains  of  those  we  loved  on  earth  and  whom  we  shall 
love  still  more  in  heaven. 

Never  shall  I  forget  the  scene  in  which  I  was  privileged 
to  participate  last  year  at  Port  Jefferson,  when  ten  thou- 
sand men  bearing  the  Name  of  Jesus  on  their  banners 
marched  in  seemingly  endless  procession  over  the  low  sand 
hills  merely  to  assemble  for  a  short  space  before  a  shelter 
which  had  been  erected  for  God's  little  crippled  children. 
That  vast  multitude  had  had  nothing  to  eat  since  early 
morning,  they  had  sacrificed  their  day's  rest  or  amusement, 
but  they  cared  little  for  that.  They  listened  to  a  brief 
discourse  which  was  merely  a  re-echoing  of  the  jubilation 
of  their  own  hearts;  they  knelt  for  the  blessing  of  Christ 
in  the  Eucharist,  and  late  at  night  reached  their  homes. 
As  I  gazed  upon  that  splendid  panorama,  for  such  it  was, 


SILVER  JUBILEE  OF  BISHOP  McDONNELL    35 

I  could  not  help  repeating  to  myself:  "These  men  are 
going  to  heaven.  The  presence  of  Christ  is  real  and  actual 
to  them,  and,  like  the  throngs  who  followed  Him  to  the 
desert,  they  are  forgetting  the  ordinary  things  of  life  and 
thinking  only  of  the  spiritual  and  the  divine." 

It  seemed  like  a  universal,  spontaneous,  and  united  re- 
sponse to  the  Epistle  of  the  Mass  on  St.  Mark's  Day 
which  tells  how  the  Prophet  Ezechiel  beheld  in  a  glorious 
vision  the  chariot  of  God.  "  The  wheels  of  it  were  four 
living  creatures :  the  ox,  the  lion,  the  eagle,  and  the  cor- 
poreal man.  Their  faces  were  turned  upwards;  and  they 
had  outstretched  wings,  and  every  one  went  straightfor- 
ward, like  flashes  of  lightning,  whithersoever  the  impulse 
of  the  Spirit  was  to  go.  Thither  they  went  and  turned 
not  when  they  went."  But  that  superb  Catholic  demon- 
stration was  only  a  little  phase  of  the  glorious  work  that 
is  going  on  everywhere  in  the  Church  in  the  subjugation 
of  our  animal  nature  to  the  will  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ. 

That  subjugation,  however,  can  never  be  achieved  if 
Christ  is  regarded  merely  as  a  man,  a  teacher,  a  religious 
reformer,  the  inaugurator  of  a  new  epoch;  much  less  if 
He  is  blasphemously  rated  as  a  dreamer,  an  enthusiast, 
an  idealist,  a  composite  picture,  a  growth  of  thought,  or 
a  myth,  or  any  other  of  those  mental  fictions  which  con- 
stitute the  crime  and  the  curse  of  our  day.  No !  Jesus 
Christ  is  indeed  a  Man,  but  He  is  at  the  same  time  the 
Everlasting  and  Omnipotent  God,  God  of  God,  Light  of 
Light,  Very  God  of  Very  God,  Who  for  us  men  and  for 
our  salvation  became  Man  and  dwelt  amongst  us.  He  is 
the  Alpha  and  the  Omega;  the  Beginning  and  the  End 
of  all  things;  the  Ruler  at  whose  Name  every  knee  on 
earth,  in  heaven,  and  in  hell  shall  bend;  and  consequently 
whose  doctrines  we  must  accept,  whose  moral  law  we  must 
obey,  and  whose  Sacraments  we  must  receive.  He  is  the 
Judge  of  the  world;  and  at  the  Last  Day,  enthroned  above 


36  VARIOUS   DISCOURSES 

the  sepulchres  of  the  nations,  He  will  assign  to  every 
mortal  an  eternity  of  happiness  or  an  eternity  of  woe.  It 
is  only  because  the  world  rejects  the  doctrine  of  the  Divin- 
ity of  Christ  that  it  finds  itself  in  its  present  dire  degrada- 
tion and  distress.  To  restore  peace  and  happiness  there 
is  but  one  thing  to  do,  and  that  is,  to  bring  back  Christ  to 
the  lives  of  individuals,  families,  and  nations.  It  is  only 
thus  that  we  Americans  can  hope  to  avert  from  our  own 
land  the  disasters  that  have  fallen  on  unhappy  Europe. 

You,  Right  Reverend  Bishop,  have  been  privileged  to 
further  this  work  of  salvation  in  a  remarkable  way,  by 
your  life,  by  your  example,  and  by  your  quiet  and  perse- 
vering energy  of  purpose;  and  with  you  are  your  priests, 
your  religious,  and  your  people.  May  you  continue  your 
fruitful  aspostolate  for  many  years,  and  when  the  Lord 
at  last  calls  you  for  your  Jubilee  in  heaven  you  will  hear 
from  His  lips,  as  He  takes  you  to  His  Heart,  the  words 
that  you  yourself  have  so  often  repeated,  Pax  tecum 
("  Peace  be  with  you  "). 


Intellectual  Education 

Alumni  Banquet  of  St  John's  College,  Fordham,  Buckingham  Hotel,  New  York, 

January  20,  1897 

I  CONFESS  to  a  feeling  of  dejection  when  I  read  or 
hear  of  the  countless  millions  which  are  being  lav- 
ished on  non-Catholic  educational  institutions  and 
compare  them  with  our  own  scanty  resources.  I  cannot 
help  thinking  that  from  their  financial  and  presumably 
educational  heights  they  look  down  with  unconcern,  if  not 
contempt,  upon  our  scholastic  littleness,  and  are  following, 
consciously  or  not,  the  advice  of  Tyndall,  in  "  differentiat- 
ing themselves  from  the  foolish,  fanatical,  and  sacerdotal 
portion  of  the  human  race  whose  intellects  are  reduced  to 
atrophy  as  regards  scientific  truth,  and  whose  brain  in  re- 
lation to  science  is  virtually  the  undeveloped  brain  of  a 
child."  Do  you  wonder,  then,  with  this  educational  Eldo- 
rado before  me,  which  I  cannot  reach,  with  the  assurance 
from  Tyndall,  who  never  errs,  that  my  brain  is  atrophied 
and  undeveloped,  and  with  the  knowledge  that  enlightened 
Roman  Catholics  with  social  aspirations  are  differentiating 
themselves  from  me  behind  the  walls  of  non-Catholic  col- 
leges, that  I  yield  to  gloom  and  depression? 

But  it  is  only  for  a  moment.  I  recall  an  answer  made 
to  me  by  a  high-spirited  and  noble  young  Spaniard,  to 
whom  I  was  suggesting  motives  of  submission  in  a  family 
bereavement.  Drawing  himself  up  proudly  and  looking 
me  straight  in  the  face,  with  just  a  gleam  of  indignation 
in  his  eye,  he  said,  "  Father,  I  am  a  Catholic!  "  So,  look- 
ing straight  at  this  gloomy  aspect  of  things  educational, 
I  say  to  myself,  "  I  am  a  Catholic,"  and  can  get  and  can 
give  a  better  education  and  exercise  a  greater  and  better 


38  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

influence  upon  my  country's  fortunes  than  they  with  all 
their  wealth  and  prestige  and  power.  I  prescind  altogether 
from  the  question  of  moral  influence.  Our  superiority 
there  goes  without  saying.  But  I  maintain  that  in  the  fight 
for  intellectual  supremacy  we  can  and  must  prevail,  and 
I  read  my  title  to  that  claim  clear  and  unclouded  on  the 
pages  of  history. 

When  the  first  Catholic  educators  appeared,  they  were 
confronted  with  the  highest  degree  of  culture  the  world 
had  yet  known.  It  was  the  golden  age  of  Augustus,  which 
meant  not  only  the  union  of  the  poetry,  eloquence,  philoso- 
phy, jurisprudence,  science,  and  statesmanship  of  that  won- 
derful period,  but  included  all  that  had  emanated  from  Gre- 
cian genius  in  the  splendid  age  of  Pericles,  whose  influence 
still  lingered  over  and  pervaded  the  Roman  Empire. 

It  was  a  hopeless  task,  apparently,  for  the  atrophied 
ecclesiastical  intellect  that  presented  itself  for  recognition. 
Yet  Clement's  voice  was  immediately  heard,  and  that  of 
Irenaeus  and  Hermas.  There  was  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  with 
his  marvellous  lucidity  of  style;  Gregory  of  Neo-Caesarea, 
who  first  carried  Christian  eloquence  to  the  height  of  sub- 
limity; Basil,  who  could  rank  with  the  best  Greek  writers 
of  antiquity;  Gregory  of  Nazianzen,  who  deserves  a  high 
position  with  the  orators  of  any  age  or  country,  and  who 
first  wove  the  golden  threads  of  Grecian  rhythm  around 
the  noble  dogmas  of  the  religion  of  Christ;  Athanasius, 
of  whom  it  is  said  the  Greek  mind  never  went  further  in 
sublimity  and  depth;  Chrysostom  of  the  golden  lips; 
Origen,  with  his  boundless  learning;  Tertullian,  whose  sen- 
tences reverberate  like  peals  of  thunder;  Ambrose  and 
Jerome  and  Augustine  —  one  of  the  greatest  minds  the 
world  has  ever  known  —  not  all  priests,  for  Tertullian  was 
not,  nor  Origen  in  the  beginning;  nor  Boethius,  the  leader 
of  Theodoric's  army;  nor  Cassiodorus,  his  treasurer;  and 
countless  others  whom  we  need  not  name. 


INTELLECTUAL    EDUCATION  39 

And  their  competitors?  What  of  them?  What  did 
they  produce  during  all  the  time  in  which  they  still  held 
the  wealth  and  power  of  the  world?  "  Nothing,"  says 
Cantu.  "  They  gave  nothing  to  the  world  but  some  cold 
grammarians,  loquacious  rhetoricians,  meagre  chroniclers, 
sickly  poets  singing  nuptial  verses  and  shepherds'  idylls." 
The  ever  accusing  and  condemning  fact  is  there,  that  after 
the  time  of  Nero  there  is  not  a  writer  of  any  note  whose 
name  has  lived,  but  Tacitus  and  Juvenal  and  Pliny;  and 
they  would  have  perished  had  not  the  old  monks  of  the 
Middle  Ages  saved  them  from  the  wreck.  Their  literature 
was  dwarfed  before  the  splendid  intellectual  powers  which 
demanded  and  won  recognition  from  the  world.  It  was 
not  a  sudden  upspringing  of  light  that  flashed  before  the 
eyes  of  men,  to  expire  as  soon,  but  a  brilliancy  lasting 
through  the  centuries,  with  its  influence  still  permeating 
the  Christian  world  and  probably  to  endure  to  the  end. 
Before  its  splendor  the  lesser  lights  of  paganism  paled  their 
ineffectual  fires  and  disappeared.  Who,  we  ask,  were  the 
conquerors  in  that  first  great  trial  of  strength? 

There  came  another  test.  It  was  when  civilization  was 
trampled  underfoot  by  the  barbarians  of  the  North.  The 
Catholic  educator  addressed  himself  to  his  task  again,  as 
poorly  equipped  as  before,  with  no  material  at  all  on  the 
side  of  his  savage  pupil  to  work  upon.  And  what  was  the 
result?  The  result  was  simply  the  civilization  of  to-day. 
For  who  framed  the  laws  of  all  the  nations  of  modern 
times?  Who  taught  the  arts  of  peace  and  mitigated  the 
horrors  of  war?  Who  shaped  their  manners?  Who 
formed  and  fashioned  and  enriched  their  language?  Who 
created  and  developed  their  literature?  The  Catholic  edu- 
cators. Who  created  the  architecture  of  the  modern 
World?  Who  inspired  art,  illumined  its  poetry,  gave 
elevation  to  its  oratory,  guided  its  statesmanship,  and  bound 
its  peoples  together  in  international  amity  and  peace?  Who 


40  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

but  the  Catholic  teachers  who  met  these  wild  men  of  the 
North  and  transformed  them  into  what  they  are  to-day? 
For  let  us  never  forget  that  whatever  is  noble,  beautiful, 
splendid,  and  strong  in  modern  civilization  is  due  solely 
to  its  Catholic  education.  The  Catholic  teacher  found 
Europe  a  desert  and  made  it  the  sun  and  centre  of  civiliza- 
tion, the  most  beneficent  portion  and  the  most  powerful 
influence  in  the  world  to-day.  Without  him  it  would  have 
remained  what  Asia  and  Africa  are  at  present  —  regions 
over  which  hangs  a  curse  because  there  is  no  Christianity 
and  consequently  no  Christian  or  Catholic  education. 

Admitting  the  past,  say  our  opponents,  it  does  not  change 
the  fact  that  for  the  future  you  do  not  count.  Your  in- 
fluence in  the  educational  and  intellectual  world  is  not  only 
waning,  but  has  already  passed  away. 

Let  us  examine  this  assumption,  whose  arrogance  we 
need  not  qualify.  The  situation  is  this:  The  educational 
trend  of  the  present  day  is  almost  entirely  in  the  direction 
of  the  natural  sciences.  The  world,  dazzled  and  perhaps 
dazed  by  the  splendid  discoveries  of  science,  will  have 
nothing  else.  Columbia's  catalogue  announces  that  she  is 
to  devote  herself  mainly  to  the  applied  sciences.  In  Har- 
vard, the  old  home  of  polite  letters,  a  modicum  of  the 
natural  sciences  is  enough  for  a  degree.  The  other  col- 
leges are  in  line.  Vast  sums  of  money  are  being  expended 
in  technical  laboratories,  parties  of  exploration  are  being 
organized,  and  schools  of  excavation  established  in  various 
countries,  and  the  arguments  of  the  pick  and  shovel  are, 
to  use  the  language  of  one  of  them,  replacing  the  methods 
of  the  past.  Chemistry,  physics,  biology,  geology,  botany, 
palaeontology,  are  the  order  of  the  day.  No  literature, 
no  history,  no  philosophy,  but  only  science.  The  whole 
country  is  not  only  drifting,  but  rushing  in  that  one 
direction. 

In  the  presence  of  this  movement  I  am  not  discouraged 


INTELLECTUAL    EDUCATION  41 

or  dismayed,  but  distressed.  I  am  in  the  presence  of  a 
work  of  devastation ;  for  if  not  checked  by  the  conservative 
elements  in  education,  it  means  not  only  the  ruin  of  all 
genuine  culture,  but  the  wreck  of  the  universities  them- 
selves and  the  mental  deterioration  of  the  race  that  is  to 
be  subjected  to  this  discipline. 

It  was  bad  enough  to  have  cut  out  of  university  life  the 
boundless  intellectual  wealth  contained  in  revealed  truth 
along  with  the  illumination  that  radiated  from  it  through 
the  splendid  minds  of  the  first  centuries  of  the  Christian 
era;  it  was  sad  enough  to  have  expelled  with  scorn  and 
contempt  the  philosophy  of  ancient  and  modern  times;  but 
to  have  abandoned  history,  literature,  and  the  arts,  as 
Strauss,  Rehan,  and  others  ordain,  and  to  reduce  the  uni- 
versity to  the  level  of  a  workshop  —  for  that  is  all  that 
applied  science  means  —  is  to  have  already  effected  its 
destruction.  Even  the  workshop  will  disappear  when  the 
funds  of  its  patrons  are  withdrawn. 

Time  was  when  the  university  guided  the  thought  of 
the  nation.  But  who  cares  for  the  opinion  or  sentiment 
of  an  aggregation  of  mechanics  or  laborers,  who  have  not 
a  second  thought  beyond  their  laboratory  or  bench,  on 
the  mighty  questions  that  weave  themselves  into  the  lives 
of  men  and  nations?  Jules  Simon  prophesied  that  the 
believers  of  yesterday,  becoming  sceptics  to-day,  will  be 
nihilists  to-morrow.  But  this  scientific  movement  in  edu- 
cation is  as  nihilistic  against  the  governments  of  the  world 
as  political  nihilism.  It  is  a  movement  which  began  in 
apostasy,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  degenerated  into  athe- 
ism in  the  eighteenth,  and  now  aims  at  the  annihilation 
not  only  of  the  institutions  of  learning  but  of  the  intellect 
itself.  Darwin's  lament  that  his  life  of  classification  and 
numeration  had  robbed  him  of  all  sense  of  the  beautiful 
would  be  pathetic  if  it  were  not  a  merited  retribution. 
"  Art  and  music  and  poetry  had  become  offensive  to  him," 


42  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

he  said,  "  though  once  passionately  loved."  But  not  only 
the  tender  and  sweet  emotions  are  shrivelled  and  de- 
stroyed; the  intellect  itself  is  left  undeveloped,  atrophied, 
and  in  danger  of  destruction.  "  The  tradition  of  great 
men  from  our  universities,"  says  Choate,  "  is  lost."  He 
attributes  it  to  lack  of  work,  but  it  is  really  lack  of  mind. 
"  There  is  no  such  thing  as  reason,  understanding,  and 
intellect,"  shrieks  Max  Miiller.  "  It  is  only  an  organism 
acted  upon  by  matter  and  possessing  no  spontaneity  or 
energy  or  life  of  its  own,"  echo  all  the  others ;  and  judging 
from  the  reasoning  of  some  of  their  best  writers  and 
their  fetich-like  adoration  of  each  other's  disgraced  and 
discarded  theories,  he  is  right.  "  I  am  amazed,"  said  a 
member  of  a  scientific  congress,  "  at  the  inability  of  my 
associates  to  co-ordinate  their  special  investigations  with 
the  general  science  of  which  those  specialties  are  a  part, 
and  their  childish  inability  to  explain  the  result  of  their 
labors."  On  the  other  hand,  I  have  been  asked,  "  How 
do  you  account  for  the  readiness  and  ease  with  which  your 
young  men  can  address  themselves  to  the  abstruse  subjects 
of  ethics  and  metaphysics?  "  "  Because  they  are  Catho- 
lics," I  replied.  "  They  are  on  familiar  ground,  and  their 
intellects  are  not  dwarfed  and  undeveloped,  but  strength- 
ened and  enlarged.  They  are  not  mere  machines  with 
no  other  occupation  than  that  of  the  laborer  digging  in 
the  earth,  or  of  the  savage  marking  the  track  of  animals, 
but  their  minds  are  immortal  spirits  that  will  not  be  satisfied 
with  the  visible  world,  but  will  soar  above  it  in  their  search 
for  truth,  and  not  rest  till  they  find  it  in  its  source." 

Admire  as  we  may  these  splendid  achievements  of  science, 
we  miss  their  import  and  purpose  if  we  are  dazed  or  un- 
settled by  them,  or  if  we  fancy  that  they  are  necessarily 
guarantees  of  intellectual  greatness.  Some  of  the  most 
astonishing  discoveries  have  resulted  in  little  else  than  the 
production  of  scientific  toys;  few,  if  any,  have  advanced 


INTELLECTUAL    EDUCATION  43 

us  one  step  in  explaining  the  real  nature  of  the  agencies 
at  work.  Progress  has  been  along  the  line  of  perfection 
of  mechanism  rather  than  of  intimate  knowledge  of  nature 
itself. 

We  must  bear  in  mind  that  these  conquests  over  the 
material  universe  are  desirable  in  so  far  as  they  furnish 
material  to  ennoble  or  intensify  the  aesthetic  or  intellectual 
faculties  of  our  nature.  If  the  contrary  ensues,  namely, 
if  our  appreciation  of  the  beautiful  in  art  and  letters  per- 
ishes, if  our  intellectual  and  reasoning  powers  are  impaired, 
we  are  like  those  who,  coming  suddenly  into  unexpected 
wealth,  employ  it  to  plunge  into  a  life  of  glittering  dissi- 
pation. The  whole  man  is  soon  a  wreck.  As  to  superior- 
ity, there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  one  whose  intellectual 
faculties  are  perfectly  trained  will  easily  prevail  over  the 
exclusively  scientific  automaton  who  is  notoriously,  egre- 
giously,  and  professedly  unintellectual,  and  who  is  dull  to 
the  beauty  not  only  of  the  invisible  creation. but  even  to 
that  which  comes  in  the  domain  of  sense.  The  prestige 
which  science  enjoys  at  the  present  time  is  only  that  which 
everything  new  and  startling  obtains,  especially  when  it 
appeals  to  the  lower  or  animal  part  of  man.  In  the  con- 
test that  is  being  waged  for  educational  supremacy  there 
can  be  no  doubt  of  the  issue.  Between  a  mind  and  a 
machine  or  between  a  mind  and  no  mind,  there  can  be 
only  one  result. 

Do  you  propose,  then,  to  eliminate  scientific  studies  from 
your  curriculum?  I  make  answer  that  I  belong  to  a  body 
of  men  who,  Von  Humboldt  says,  always  associate  scien- 
tific research  with  the  spread  of  the  Gospel.  The  Scientific 
American  of  this  week  tells  with  enthusiasm  of  the  ex- 
plorations of  one  of  them  up  near  the  Arctic  Ocean,  travel- 
ling over  two  thousand  miles  on  the  ice  and  snow  alone 
with  an  Indian  boy  (and  this  was  only  one  of  many  such 
journeys)  in  regions  where  no  human  being  had  ever 


44  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

penetrated,  gathering  scientific  data  while  preaching  salva- 
tion. They  are  men  whose  unthought  of  and  unconsidered 
letters,  written  in  Indian  wigwams  or  in  bark  canoes  or  in 
the  depths  of  the  forests,  are  being  solicitously  gathered 
by  Harvard  and  Lenox  and  other  great  libraries,  and  are 
now  elaborately  republished  as  the  best  philological,  geo- 
graphical, and  ethnological  material  for  the  history  of  our 
country;  men  who  are  at  the  present  moment  the  Govern- 
ment meteorologists  at  the  great  danger  points  of  the 
world  —  the  Spanish  Main,  the  China  Sea,  and  the  Philip- 
pine Islands;  men  who,  primarily  theologians  and  philoso- 
phers and  preachers,  have  inscribed  at  least  some  honored 
names  in  the  history  of  scientific  research. 

No;  it  is  precisely  because  we  do  not  wish  to  exclude 
science  that  we  take  this  position  (and  let  me  say  in  paren- 
thesis that  the  general  chemical  and  physical  laboratories 
of  most  of  our  colleges  are  as  well  equipped  as  those  in 
many  of  the  most  pretentious  universities) ;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  to  have  science  better  and  more  profoundly 
and  more  thoroughly  and  more  intelligently  studied  that 
we  adhere  so  tenaciously  to  our  literary,  historical,  and 
philosophical  studies.  In  point  of  fact  the  real  princes  in 
the  domain  of  science  —  men  like  William  Thompson, 
Clark  Maxwell,  and  others  —  had  been  first  trained  in  the 
very  studies  which  we  are  advocating  as  indispensable  in 
real  education.  They  had  the  advantage  of  the  old  Catho- 
lic traditions  of  philosophy  and  literature  which  still 
lingered  in  the  universities  which  sent  them  forth.  They 
were  not  the  uninformed  and  unreasoning  and  unintelligent 
experimenters  who  are  invading  the  world  to-day.  That 
was  the  secret  of  their  success,  for  surely,  there  is  nothing 
to  prevent  a  man  who  has  distinguished  himself  in  intel- 
lectual pursuits  from  being  a  master  in  these  inferior 
sciences  if  he  wishes  to  lower  the  sphere  of  his  activity. 
Are  there  not  examples  in  plenty  of  superiority  won  in 


INTELLECTUAL    EDUCATION  45 

scientific  matters  by  those  who  had  been  first  intellectually 
disciplined  when  pitted  against  those  who  knew  only  what 
their  eyes  could  see  and  their  hands  could  feel?  Not  to 
leave  the  precincts  of  the  room  in  which  we  are  assembled, 
I  see  before  me  two  physicians,  graduates  of  Fordham, 
who  in  the  same  year  were  without  difficulty  the  leaders 
of  the  respective  schools  of  two  or  three  hundred  in 
Bellevue  and  the  University  of  New  York.  At  the  present 
moment  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  is  commissioning 
two  of  our  graduates,  before  even  their  course  is  com- 
pleted, to  examine  all  the  medical  laboratories  of  Europe 
and  bring  back  the  results  of  their  investigations  to  enrich 
the  university  that  delights  to  do  them  honor.  Dwight, 
of  the  Law  School,  is  quoted  as  saying  that  he  could  tell 
immediately  a  young  man  with  Catholic  training.  The 
habit  of  reasoning,  of  examining  into  causes,  of  co-ordi- 
nating and  unifying  even  the  simplest  studies  from  gram- 
mar up  to  philosophy,  gives  them  an  immediate  superiority 
over  their  rivals.  These  are  examples  taken  at  random 
to  illustrate  the  point  I  am  insisting  upon,  that,  instead 
of  impeding  it,  intellectual  training  is  the  very  best  assur- 
ance of  scientific  success. 

So  that  when  Tyndall  says,  "  We  have  explored  the 
entire  universe  and  have  now  reached  the  outer  rim,  be- 
yond which  there  looms  another  universe,  one  which  will 
forever  loom,"  we  can  reply,  "  Over  that  rim  and  into 
that  universe  a  Catholic  boy  can,  independently  of  revealed 
truth  (for  we  are  taking  no  account  of  that  here),  by 
the  inherent  and  cultivated  power  of  his  intellect,  lead  you, 
O  learned  Professor,  and  tell  you  many  secrets  which  your 
limited  vision,  darkened  by  contemplating  the  earth  alone, 
can  never  perceive." 

What  a  Catholic  Centrist  of  the  German  Parliament 
said  to  a  Bismarckian  member  may  be  applied  to  us. 
"  You  are  ahead  of  us  by  the  length  of  Von  Malinckrodt." 


46  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

"  Von  Malinckrodt  I  "  retorted  the  Catholic;  u  we  are  ahead 
of  you  by  the  length  of  eternal  principles."  So  in  the 
matter  of  education  we  are  ahead  of  all  the  rest,  first,  by 
the  infinite  light  of  revelation  which,  while  displaying  be- 
fore our  vision  the  vast  universe  of  truth  which  unaided 
reason  can  never  achieve,  throws  light  on  those  truths 
which  reason  is  able  to  reach.  We  are  ahead  of  them  by 
the  light  which  the  genius  of  every  age  has  shed  upon  the 
most  vital  questions  that  concern  the  human  race.  We  are 
ahead  of  them  by  the  heritage  bequeathed  to  us  by  the 
greatest  poets,  philosophers,  jurists,  legislators,  and  states- 
men of  the  modern  world  —  for  the  greatest  of  them  were 
Catholics.  What  then  is  to  prevent  us  from  being  in  our 
own  country  the  leaders  in  all  the  learned  professions,  the 
orators,  philosophers,  jurists,  statesmen,  and  men  of  sci- 
ence who  are  to  guide  and  shape  and  direct  the  thought 
of  our  times  and  country? 

History  must  repeat  itself,  and  whether  we  consider  the 
present  condition  of  culture  as  the  acme  of  civilization  or 
the  inroad  of  intellectual  vandalism,  Catholics  can  and 
must  conquer  now  as  they  have  done  before.  Our  antago- 
nists have  not  only  actually  abandoned  the  domain  of  in- 
tellect by  abandoning  the  studies  in  which  at  times  it  has 
shown  its  greatest  powers,  but  have  in  their  gross  material- 
ism actually  cast  aside  intellect  itself,  in  proclaiming  that 
their  mind  is  a  machine  and  they  glory  in  their  dishonor. 
It  is  no  longer  a  trial  of  intellects,  but  of  intellect  against 
the  pick  and  the  shovel.  History  has  shown  us  that  they 
can  be  beaten  when  the  contest  is  mind  to  mind;  how  much 
more  so  in  these  changed  conditions. 

In  this  battlefield  of  science  which  they  have  chosen  it 
is  mind  against  matter,  it  is  light  against  darkness;  and 
matter  will  yield  to  mind,  and  darkness  will  yield  to  light. 
Just  as  it  is  the  Catholic  intellect  alone  that  can  show 
the  way  through  the  gloom  and  perplexity  of  the  great 


INTELLECTUAL    EDUCATION  47 

questions  of  the  day,  and  alone  build  solid  the  foundations 
of  the  State,  so  it  is  the  Catholic  intellect  alone  which  can 
and  will  gather  together  all  the  researches  that  these  dig- 
gers in  the  earth  are  making,  will  find  their  relations,  co- 
ordinate them,  and  tell  their  meaning  to  the  world.  The 
laborers  can  fetch  the  material,  but  the  master-mind  will 
build  the  pyramid  and  inscribe  his  own  glory  upon  it.  He 
alone  will  be  known  when  they  are  long  passed  into  ob- 
livion. It  is  Catholic  teaching  alone  that  can  elevate  the 
human  race  from  the  degradation  of  ignorance  and  error, 
and  crown  it  with  that  glory  which  only  the  spiritual  in- 
tellect can  achieve  in  whatever  pursuits  the  human  race 
may  choose  to  direct  its  energies  and  devote  its  time. 


Marriage 

Colgate  University  (Baptist),  May  24,  1898 

I  HAVE  read  with  intense  interest  the  discourses  already 
the  importance  of  the  theme  that  has  been  adopted, 
delivered  here,  and  I  am  profoundly  impressed  with 
There  is  in  my  mind  no  doubt  that  the  acceptance  or  the 
rejection  of  the   doctrine  of   Christ's   divinity  is   fraught 
with  consequences  similar  to  those  which  confronted  the 
Hebrew  people,  but  which  they  were  too  blind  to  see  nine- 
teen hundred  years  ago.     Its  rejection  means  national  ruin. 
For  we  must  not  forget  that  our  civilization  is  a  Christian 
civilization,  and  its  doctrines  form  the  basis  of  our  laws. 
If  you  destroy  one  you  destroy  the  other.     Take  away 
the  foundation  and  the  edifice  that  rests  upon  it  necessarily 
falls. 

This  is  particularly  true  with  regard  to  that  part  of  the 
divine  legislation  which  concerns  the  marriage  contract, 
whose  essential  characteristics  are  formulated  by  Christ  in 
a  brief  passage  of  Matthew  and  Mark.  Therein  He  not 
only  condemns  the  legislation  of  the  then  existing  nations, 
but  also  reprobates  the  abuse  which  Moses  had  allowed  to 
creep  into  the  practice  of  the  people  of  God;  and  He  clearly 
marks  out  the  course  which  future  generations  are  to  fol- 
low if  they  are  to  avoid  the  dangers  of  the  past. 

In  a  few  rapid  words  He  there  declares,  first,  that  mar- 
riage is  a  divine  institution  which  no  human  authority  has 
a  right  to  invade;  secondly,  that  it  is  a  holy  thing,  with  a 
holiness  which,  as  the  Apostle  subsequently  described  it, 
is  like  Christ's  own  mystical  union  with  His  church;  thirdly, 
that  it  is  indissoluble,  for  the  bill  of  divorce  he  declared 
to  be  an  abuse  which  had  been  permitted  only  because  of 


MARRIAGE  49 

the  corruption  of  men's  hearts;  lastly,  it  was  for  two  in 
one  flesh,  and  consequently  polygamy  was  not  to  be 
endured. 

Here,  then,  is  the  thesis  of  this  paper.  This  single  law 
which  Christ  as  ruler  of  the  world  promulgated  is  of  such 
a  nature  that,  if  not  obeyed,  the  family,  and  as  a  conse- 
quence the  nation  itself,  must  inevitably  perish. 

I  base  this  assertion  not  on  any  doctrinal  reasons,  but 
on  a  simple  historical  presentation  of  facts. 

I  shall  appeal,  first,  to  the  history  of  some  of  the  great 
races  which  rose  and  fell  before  the  advent  of  Christianity, 
and  which  had  lost  the  tradition  of  marriage  as  God  first 
instituted  it  in  the  Garden  of  Eden;  secondly,  to  those 
which  once  were  Christian,  but  which  subsequently  aban- 
doned the  faith  of  Christ.  When  that  is  done,  we  shall 
look  at  marriage  as  it  was  established  by  the  Creator  and 
restored  by  Christ,  and  it  will  not  be  hard  to  conclude  that 
upon  Christ's  legislation  on  this  matter  of  marriage  de- 
pends, as  I  have  said,  the  very  existence  of,  our  present 
civilization. 

A  primary  condition  of  the  stability  of  this  compact  is 
the  recognition  and  admission  of  the  truth  that  the  party 
most  interested,  namely,  woman,  is  not  man's  slave,  but 
his  equal;  that  she  is  the  guardian  of  purity  as  a  virgin, 
a  wife,  and  a  mother,  and  the  depository  and  exponent 
of  the  gentle  and  refining  qualities  which  make  for  the 
elevation  and  the  preservation  of  the  nations.  Only  Chris- 
tian marriage,  I  maintain,  keeps  for  her  those  glorious 
prerogatives,  and  in  consequence  prevents  the  ruin  of  the 
commonwealths  of  the  world. 

Let  us  begin  with  the  ancient  Greeks,  that  wonderful 
people  which  was  without  exception  the  most  intellectual 
and  cultured  the  world  has  known,  yet  which  in  spite  of 
its  unchallenged  pre-eminence  had  almost  completely  elimi- 
nated from  its  mind  and  heart  the  proper  appreciation  of 


50  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

woman's  dignity  and  woman's  glory.  A  glance  at  their 
religious  ideals  will  convince  us  of  that.  To  take  but  a 
few  of  their  female  deities,  what  was  Aphrodite  or  Venus 
but  the  most  degraded  human  lust  elevated  into  an  object 
of  cult?  The  chaste  Diana,  as  she  is  called,  whose  vesture 
accords  but  little  with  our  ideas  of  what  chastity  clothes 
herself  with,  had  human  sacrifices  as  part  of  her  worship,  — 
the  ancients'  idea  possibly  of  what  woman's  influence  was 
on  the  human  race.  Pallas  Athene  added  to  the  slaughter- 
loving  brutality  of  the  masculine  Mars  the  low  element  of 
cunning,  and  appears  unwomanlike  in  full  armor  and  glit- 
tering spear,  with  serpents  hissing  in  her  hair  and  on  her 
breast,  and  with  the  Gorgon  on  her  shield  which  stiffens 
all  the  earth  to  stone.  Of  Juno  and  her  relations  to  her 
spouse  and  others  we  need  say  nothing.  They  are  too 
foul  to  be  thought  of.  When  despairing  humanity  looked 
to  heaven,  it  saw  only  what  was  abominable  even  for  the 
earth. 

So  also  for  the  heroines  of  literature.  Even  the  sweet 
Andromache  of  Homer  is  made  to  utter  a  most  unwifely 
sentiment  by  Euripides,  in  her  parting  words  to  Hector, 
and  she  becomes  a  degraded  slave  after  the  death  of  her 
warrior  husband.  Penelope's  much-praised  and  therefore 
unusual  fidelity  is  not  above  suspicion.  Iphigenia,  who 
figures  in  so  many  a  pathetic  story,  is  a  priestess  of  the 
bloody  rites  of  Diana,  and  was  accustomed  to  offer  human 
sacrifices,  especially  of  strangers,  on  the  altars  of  the  god- 
dess. Clytemnestra  rises  before  us  brandishing  her  bloody 
dagger  over  her  sleeping  husband.  Medea  scatters  the 
mangled  remains  of  her  children  as  she  flees  away  to  an 
adulterous  connection  after  murdering  her  rival.  Hecuba 
murdered  the  sons  of  Polymestor  after  putting  out  their 
father's  eyes.  Polyxena  was  the  instrument  employed  to 
seduce  Achilles  to  betray  the  Greeks,  and  subsequently  to 
cause  his  assassination.  Antigone  was  a  suicide,  and  these 


MARRIAGE  51 

cover  the  whole  field  of  their  ideal  as  to  woman's  work 
and  woman's  influence  on  society.  The  greatest  poem  of 
antiquity  turns  upon  the  most  outrageous  breach  of  hospi- 
tality in  the  abduction  of  Helen,  which  was  condoned  and 
defended  by  a  whole  race,  while  the  lives  of  the  avengers 
demonstrate  that  it  was  not  the  vindication  of  female 
honor  but  other  motives  that  evoked  the  strife. 

So  much  for  the  Greek  ideal.  The  real  corresponded 
to  it.  In  that  period  of  Grecian  history  which  is  known 
as  the  age  of  Pericles,  in  which  culture  reached  the  highest 
point  it  ever  before  or  since  attained,  when  its  painting, 
sculpture,  poetry,  philosophy,  oratory,  and  even  war  repre- 
sented human  power  at  its  zenith,  the  condition  of  woman- 
kind and  consequently  the  condition  of  morality  was  most 
appalling.  The  Greek  wife  was  kept  in  absolute  seclusion, 
was  married  when  still  a  child,  and  remained  in  subjection 
all  her  life,  first  to  her  husband  and  afterwards  to  her 
own  children.  She  was  permitted  to  weave,  embroider, 
spin,  and  care  for  her  slaves  and  children,  but  that  was 
all.  She  never  attended  public  spectacles,  received  no  male 
visitor  except  in  presence  of  her  husband,  and  had  not  a 
seat  at  table  when  male  guests  were  there.  Phidias  illus- 
trated the  popular  conception  of  her  condition  by  painting 
her  as  a  heavenly  Aphrodite  standing  on  a  tortoise,  to 
imply  that  the  duty  of  a  good  wife  was,  like  the  tortoise, 
to  remain  shut  up  at  home  and  in  silence.  "  Her  hair  is 
long,"  the  adage  runs,  "  but  her  wits  are  short."  There 
was  no  honor  given  to  her  as  a  partner  and  companion 
of  her  husband.  His  life  was  not  hers  and  was  spent 
mainly  away  from  home.  His  interests  were  in  the  as- 
sembly and  in  the  theatre,  and  his  house  was  only  a  shelter 
for  the  evening  or  the  night,  and  his  wife  useful  to  him 
for  keeping  house  and  bearing  him  legitimate  children. 
In  such  a  condition  of  family  life  divorce  was  necessarily 
common  and  was  frequently  a  matter  of  mutual  consent. 


52  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

Nay,  arbitrary  powers  were  given  to  the  husband  to  put 
away  his  wife  as  if  she  were  a  slave,  or  bestow  her  in 
marriage  upon  another,  or  even  dictate  whom  she  should 
marry  after  his  death. 

The  only  women  who  were  at  all  educated  and  who 
were  the  ordinary  companions  of  men  were  the  immoral 
ones.  They  were  the  hetairse,  or  courtesans,  who  possessed 
immense  wealth  and  exercised  an  astonishing  influence  in 
the  affairs  of  State,  and  are  alone  of  their  sex  conspicuous 
in  the  history  of  their  country.  Demosthenes  speaks  with- 
out any  words  of  reprobation  of  the  respective  social  status 
of  the  prostitute  and  the  concubine.  Both  were  admitted 
and  approved  as  making  a  part  of  the  social  and  even  the 
religious  organization  of  the  nation,  and  the  temple  of 
Aphrodite  in  Corinth  maintained  at  great  cost  a  thousand 
priestesses  of  its  degrading  worship.  Even  Socrates  did 
not  shrink  from  visiting  the  most  conspicuous  of  these 
hetairae  to  direct  her  as  to  the  best  method  to  be  followed 
in  her  infamous  profession.  Such  callousness  of  course 
implied  a  lower  depth  of  immorality,  and  Athens  became 
a  Sodom  where  unnatural  vices  were  regarded  with  as 
little  shame  as  any  other  form  of  profligacy.  Slavery 
made  all  licentiousness  easy,  and  every  home  infected,  in 
the  country  as  well  as  in  the  town.  The  gladiatorial  shows 
introduced  by  Rome  later  added  a  new  horror,  and,  as  a 
modern  historian  has  expressed  it,  the  whole  country  be- 
came a  dismal  swamp  of  blood  and  filth. 

It  is  idle  to  attribute  this  fallen  condition  of  woman 
to  the  ignorance  and  seclusion  which  was  imposed  upon 
the  respectable  portion  of  the  sex.  For  at  that  very  time 
in  Sparta,  where  there  was  no  restraint  upon  them  at  all, 
where  they  mingled  freely  in  public  life,  and  were  owners 
of  two  thirds  of  the  wealth  of  the  State,  their  wickedness 
was  grosser  and  more  brutal  than  in  other  parts  of  Greece. 

Is  it  any  wonder,  then,  that  this  people,  which  was  so 


MARRIAGE  53 

marvellously  gifted,  the  people  which  at  that  very  time 
had  its  Demosthenes,  its  Aristotle,  its  Plato,  its  Euclid,  and 
its  Sophocles,  nay,  who  even  produced  an  Alexander  who 
was  such  a  marvellous  conqueror  in  war,  should  fall  with- 
out a  struggle,  and  become  the  degraded  slaves  and  pan- 
derers  of  its  conquerors  ?  And  though  they  filled  the  world 
with  their  glory,  their  eclipse  was  unremarked.  As  some 
one  said  of  the  lower  Empire  later  on,  they  had  sunk  so 
low  by  their  immorality  that  they  made  no  noise  when  they 
fell.  It  is  an  irrefragable  proof,  if  proof  be  needed,  of 
the  absolute  powerlessness  of  mere  intellectual  culture  to 
build  up  a  nation's  greatness,  to  maintain  its  strength,  or 
avert  its  ruin. 

Let  us  look  at  this  same  feature  in  the  history  of  that 
other  people  which  had  assimilated  all  the  culture  of  the 
Greeks  and  added  to  it  besides  a  material  greatness  and 
a  military  domination  which  summed  up  and  surpassed  all 
that  preceding  earthly  powers  had  ever  attained,  I  mean 
the  Roman  Empire  —  the  fourth  beast  of  Daniel,  "  terrible 
and  wonderful  and  exceedingly  strong,  treading  down  the 
rest  with  its  feet,"  that  Empire  which  in  the  minds  of  its 
people  was  a  Deity  that  never  could  be  destroyed.  Con- 
sider how  its  decline  and  fall  tally  with  the  disruption  of 
the  marriage  relation  and  the  profligacy  that  inevitably 
followed. 

The  various  methods  of  entering  that  sacred  compact 
which  obtained  among  them  we  dismiss  —  all  except  one. 
They  are  mostly  too  shameful  to  speak  of  in  an  assembly 
like  this.  The  most  solemn  one,  that  of  confarreatio,  as  it 
is  called  —  the  marriage  that  was  contracted  only  after  con- 
sulting the  auspices,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  gods  and  with 
most  august  ceremonies  —  brought  to  the  woman  merely 
subjection  to  man.  She  was,  in  the  words  of  the  ceremony, 
delivered  to  him.  She  became  about  the  equal  of  his 
daughter  and  was  entitled  to  a  share  in  the  family  posses- 


54  VARIOUS   DISCOURSES 

sions  as  a  child.  She  was  merely  for  pleasure,  for  respec- 
tability perhaps,  and  the  procreation  of  a  family.  When 
she  displeased  her  lord  and  master  by  becoming  old  or 
losing  her  beauty,  a  servant  opened  the  door  of  her  home 
and  out  she  went.  Collige  sarcinulas  dicet  libertus,  et  exi, 
writes  Juvenal.  "  Gather  your  traps,"  the  freedman  will 
say,  "  and  go." 

Clearly  such  a  union  could  not  be  lasting,  and  though 
respect  for  ancient  traditions  kept  them  in  check  for  a 
little  while,  the  divorce  introduced  by  Roman  laws  was 
practised  under  every  form  and  for  every  motive.  There 
were  divorces  of  the  rich,  divorces  of  the  wearied,  divorces 
that  came  like  a  Mayday  moving  because  the  year  was 
up;  there  were  divorces  for  gain,  as  when  Cicero  dismisses 
his  beloved  Terentia,  over  whom  he  weeps  so  copiously  in 
his  letters,  because  his  creditors  were  pressing  him  and 
Terentia's  funds  were  low;  and  there  were  divorces  of 
generosity,  as  when  that  amazing  censor  of  morals,  Cato, 
transferred  his  wife  to  Hortensius  because  she  pleased 
Hortensius's  fancy;  and  so  on,  rich  and  poor,  Emperor 
and  subject,  wives  were  like  old  shoes,  as  one  writer  con- 
temptuously said,  to  be  flung  aside  when  no  longer 
serviceable. 

What  was  the  consequence?  Women  began  to  count 
their  age  not  by  their  years  but  by  their  divorces,  says 
Seneca.  They  divorced  to  marry  and  married  to  divorce, 
and  the  quality  which  men  refused  them  in  the  practice 
of  domestic  virtue  they  acquired  by  the  practice  of  public 
vice.  The  noblest  women  of  the  State  took  part  in  the 
most  abominable  drunken  and  impure  nightly  orgies;  they 
had  a  place  of  honor  in  the  horrors  of  the  amphitheatre, 
and  gave  the  signal  to  butcher  the  unhappy  gladiator  who 
knelt  at  their  feet,  expecting  mercy  at  least  from  them; 
and  when  a  madness  for  obscene  and  bloody  contests  in 
the  arena  took  possession  of  the  whole  Roman  nobility, 


MARRIAGE  55 

the  women  descended  there,  and  scenes  were  enacted  over 
which  we  must  draw  the  veil.  "  Woman,"  says  Seneca, 
"  is  an  animal  without  shame,"  and  in  speaking  of  the 
women  of  his  day  it  was  true.  And  yet,  although  true, 
how  shockingly  brutal  is  that  description  of  one  half  and 
that  the  lovelier  part  of  the  human  family,  and  how  quite 
in  another  sphere  she  seems  in  the  eyes  of  the  Christian 
writer  of  the  nineteenth  century,  who  speaks  of  her  as 
keeping 

"The  laws  of  marriage  charactered  in  gold, 
Upon  the  blanched  tablets  of  her  heart ;  one 
Not  learned  save  in  gracious  household  ways, 
Not  perfect,  nay,  but  full  of  tender  wants, 
No  angel,  but  a  dearer  being,  all  dipt 
In  angel  instincts,  breathing  paradise, 
Interpreter  between  the  gods  and  men, 
Who  looks  all  native  to  her  place,  and  yet 
On  tiptoe  seems  to  touch  a  sphere 
Too  gross  to  tread,  and  all  male  minds  perforce 
Sway  to  her  from  their  orbits,  as  they  move, 
And  girdle  her  with  music.     Happy  he 
With  such  a  mother.     Faith  in  womankind 
Beats  with  his  blood,  and  trust  in  all  things  high 
Comes  easy  to  him,  and  though  he  trip  and  fall, 
He  shall  not  bind  his  soul  with  clay." 

The  oft-repeated  objection  that  her  degradation  resulted 
from  the  subjection  in  which  she  was  kept  is  refuted  by 
facts.  For  the  decline  of  her  morality  coincided  with  her 
emancipation  from  property  and  civil  disqualifications.  The 
legal  position  of  the  wife  became  one  of  complete  inde- 
pendence. A  vast  proportion  of  the  wealth  of  the  Empire 
had  passed  into  the  hands  of  women,  and  a  law  had  been 
enacted  to  prevent  it  from  being  completely  absorbed  by 
them.  No!  Not  the  seclusion  of  women,  for  their  pub- 
licity was  shameless  in  that  golden  age,  not  social  or  legal 
inequality,  for  their  divorces  had  set  them  free  from  man 
in  those  respects,  but  the  fundamentally  wrong  view  of 
the  marriage  relation,  and  the  consequent  destruction  of 
the  sanctuary  of  the  home,  wrought  the  ruin.  In  the  golden 
age  of  Augustus,  in  spite  of  imperial  edicts,  there  were 


5  6  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

neither  homes  nor  children,  for  womankind  had  been 
dragged  in  the  mire. 

Every  one  knows  what  followed;  the  successive  murders 
of  the  divine  emperors  immediately  after  Augustus;  the 
wild  uprising  and  butcheries  by  the  slaves  of  whom  the 
Empire  was  full,  and  then  the  devastating  sweep  of  the 
naked  savages  from  the  North,  who  trampled  with  con- 
tempt on  the  ashes  of  the  world-wide  Empire  of  Rome 
that  was  thought  to  be  immortal. 

What  is  true  of  these  splendid  civilizations  is  also  true 
of  savage  tribes;  a  gratuitous  piece  of  information,  ap- 
parently, but  suggested  by  the  famous  passage  of  Tacitus, 
the  Roman  historian,  who  draws  an  amazing  picture  of 
the  esteem  and  honor  in  which  women  were  held  among 
the  barbarous  people  of  Germany.  That  this  was  a  mere 
rhetorical  flourish  and  intended  as  a  reprehension  of  the 
flagitious  practices  of  the  Empire  is  clear.  For  although 
there  may  have  been  one  or  another  remarkable  woman 
among  the  wives  or  daughters  of  the  chiefs,  to  ascribe  the 
virtue  of  purity  as  we  understand  it  to,  the  savage  is  simply 
setting  common  sense  at  defiance.  Even  such  an  admirer 
of  everything  Saxon  as  Montalembert  scouts  the  idea  as 
absurd  among  a  people  whose  conception  of  Valhalla  or 
heaven  was  nothing  but  days  spent  in  indiscriminate  slaugh- 
ter and  nights  in  unchecked  debauchery.  Women  in  sav- 
age life  can  in  the  nature  of  things  have  no  intellectual 
elevation,  and  amid  the  hardships  of  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence cannot  retain  even  their  beauty.  They  are  the  most 
degraded  and  helpless  of  slaves,  and  the  easy  victims  of 
their  brutal  owners.  We  have  it  from  Caesar  himself 
that  among  the  Germans,  wives  could  be  sold  or  killed 
at  pleasure,  and  that  on  the  death  of  their  husbands  it  was 
not  an  uncommon  thing  for  all  the  wives  (for  they  were 
polygamists  and  that  says  everything)  to  be  buried  alive 
or  slain  amidst  the  most  atrocious  torments. 


MARRIAGE  57 

It  only  goes  to  prove  that  the  highest  and  the  lowest, 
the  civilized  and  the  savage,  have  no  notion  of  the  rights 
of  woman,  the  equality  of  the  sexes,  and  the  sacred- 
ness  of  the  family  unless  the  divine  institution  which 
was  imparted  to  the  human  race  at  the  beginning  and 
elevated  and  consecrated  by  the  Redeemer  be  known  and 
observed. 

So  much  for  the  nations  who  never  came  under  the  direct 
influence  of  Christ.  We  omit  all  mention  of  the  Jews, 
whose  history,  however,  is  a  constant  and  forcible  proof 
of  the  truth  we  are  stating.  It  will  suffice  to  say  that  there 
were  frightful  domestic  disorders  among  them  from  the 
very  beginning.  Polygamy  had  to  be  granted  them  to 
prevent  greater  evils.  The  curse  of  possessing  great  troops 
of  female  slaves  at  least  during  the  military  period  of  their 
history  increased  the  corruption  of  morals,  and  divorce  was 
so  commonly  accepted  that  even  the  Apostles  found  the 
doctrine  of  Christ  hard  to  follow.  As  a  necessary  con- 
sequence their  history  is  nothing  but  a  succession  of  na- 
tional calamities,  defeats  in  war,  pestilences,  destruction 
of  the  city,  captivity  of  the  whole  people,  all  of  which  were 
proclaimed  by  their  scriptures  to  be  so  many  scourges  of 
God  in  punishment  of  their  wickedness.  There  is  scarcely 
a  doubt  in  my  mind  but  that  they  would  have  disappeared 
from  among  the  nations  had  not  the  Almighty  kept  them 
for  the  especial  purpose  of  preparing  for  the  Redeemer, 
and  when  He  at  last  came  the  wicked  and  adulterous  gen- 
eration, as  He  called  them,  were  shattered  and  scattered 
among  the  peoples,  and  have  been  wanderers  on  the  face 
of  the  earth  ever  since. 

There  is  a  modern  instance  which  perhaps  will  illustrate 
more  vividly  than  examples  of  the  past.  I  allude  to  France. 
I  know  from  personal  knowledge  and  long  residence  among 
them  that  there  is  still  a  strong  element  of  fervent  Chris- 
tianity there,  but  the  splendid  nation  that  once  gloried  in 


58  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

the  proud  title  of  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  Church,  the 
nation  which  has  furnished  multitudes  of  the  noblest  men 
and  women  of  modern  times,  the  nation  that  has  been 
conspicuous  among  the  peoples  of  the  world  for  its  intel- 
lectual culture  and  magnificent  examples  of  sanctity,  where 
marriage  was  ever  held  to  be  a  holy  and  God-given  thing, 
and  as  inviolable  as  it  was  holy,  where  as  nowhere  else 
chivalry  had  idealized  woman  and  was  ever  readiest  to 
rush  to  death  to  preserve  or  increase  her  honor,  that  na- 
tion is  no  longer  not  only  not  Catholic  in  its  constitution 
but  not  even  Christian.  It  is  governed  by  atheists  and 
haters  of  Christ. 

Just  one  hundred  years  ago,  in  1794,  its  National  Con- 
vention met,  and  as  a  prelude  to  its  proceedings  formu- 
lated these  three  declarations  as  the  voice  of  the  nation: 
first,  there  is  no  God;  second,  the  source  of  morality  is 
the  people;  third,  marriage  is  a  civil  contract.  Mark  how 
even  in  the  minds  of  its  enemies  marriage  is  necessarily 
connected  with  belief  in  God  and  the  practice  of  morality. 
The  consequence  was  that  in  seven  years  after  divorce  was 
permitted,  a  thing  undreamt  of  since  the  beginning  of  its 
Christianity,  there  were  ten  thousand  divorces  —  ten  thou- 
sand households  disrupted  and  dishonored.  When  we  add 
to  this  that  almost  half  of  the  marriageable  men  are  single, 
and  that  a  large  number  of  marriages  are  without  issue, 
we  can  appreciate  the  warning  of  Jules  Simon,  one  of  its 
ablest  statesmen,  that  if  France  has  soldiers  to  defend  it 
now,  in  a  few  years  it  will  have  none.  France  is  without 
children  and  the  glorious  nation  of  soldiers  and  saints  finds 
itself  in  the  presence  of  national  disaster  because  of  its 
desecration  of  the  married  state. 

In  the  light  of  all  this,  is  there  not  a  genuine  reason 
for  apprehension  in  our  own  country?  We  are  proud  of 
our  strength  as  a  nation,  but  let  us  put  the  question  frankly : 
Is  not  the  same  cause  that  destroyed  empires  and  king- 


MARRIAGE  59 

doms  in  the  past  at  work  among  us?  The  official  census 
declares  that  between  1866  and  1885  (and  things  have 
grown  much  worse  since)  there  were  not  less  than  five 
hundred  thousand  applications  for  divorce.  Can  you  es- 
timate what  that  means  —  five  hundred  thousand  families 
broken  up  in  twenty  years,  and  what  is  most  alarming, 
without  the  reproach  that  rested  upon  it  only  a  few  years 
ago.  Society  no  longer  shuts  its  doors  on  divorced  par- 
ties as  it  used  to  do.  The  divorce  laws  of  the  various 
States  have  made  marriages  a  farce;  and  the  most  absurd 
pretexts,  sometimes  none  at  all,  are  alleged  for  separation. 
Mere  children  of  sixteen  or  seventeen,  it  is  said,  have  been 
divorced  two  or  even  three  times,  and  even  ministers  of 
the  Gospel,  in  face  of  Christ's  injunction  to  the  contrary, 
come  into  court  with  their  applications,  and,  strange  to 
say,  continue  the  work  of  the  ministry,  after  they  have  flung 
aside  this  most  solemn  mandate  of  Him  they  call  their 
Master. 

Connected  with  this  is  another  omen  of  evil  —  the  ab- 
sence of  families.  As  far  back  as  1870  (and  since  then 
the  evil  has  multiplied  a  hundredfold),  the  births  from 
foreign-born  parents  in  one  section  of  the  country  —  and 
we  take  that  as  a  sample  —  were  eight  hundred  in  excess 
of  the  deaths,  while  among  the  native-born  the  deaths  ex- 
ceeded the  births  by  seven  hundred.  It  is  impossible  to 
say  much  upon  this  delicate  subject,  but  it  is  a  Cassandra 
announcing  ruin.  Childlessness  was  formerly  considered  a 
reproach,  now  the  reverse  is  the  case.  Jules  Simon's  warn- 
ing should  be  heard  by  America  as  well  as  by  France. 
There  will  soon  be  no  native  soldiers  to  defend  the  coun- 
try in  its  hour  of  peril. 

As  in  all  other  instances  of  national  ruin,  we  see  among 
us,  simultaneously  with  this,  a  brazen  shamelessness  of  vice 
that  was  unknown  in  America  until  recently.  It  stalks  on 
the  stage,  in  literature,  in  art,  in  manners  and  customs,  in 


60  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

the  avowed  libertinage  of  the  lives  of  men  and  women, 
in  the  subjects  of  conversation  of  young  girls  and  children; 
everywhere  there  are  evidences  of  an  appalling  descent  in 
the  tone  of  public  morality.  No  wonder  that  we  see  every- 
where empty  churches,  indifference  to  creed,  widespread 
apostasy  from  every  form  of  religion,  avowed  and  blatant 
and  remunerative  atheism  welcomed  with  loud  acclamation 
of  approval  by  throngs  of  eager  listeners,  corruption  all 
through  the  body  politic,  and  a  feverish  unrest  among  the 
working  classes  that  shows  itself  repeatedly  in  wild  out- 
breaks against  real  or  fancied  oppression.  Is  not  all  this 
ominous  of  disaster? 

There  is  only  one  remedy  for  all  this,  and  that  is  not 
in  white  or  gray  cruisers,  not  in  disappearing  guns  or 
mined  harbors,  not  in  vast  numbers  of  men  ready  at  a 
word  to  die  for  their  country.  Those  are  for  foes  outside. 
With  a  people  of  seventy  million  united  as  we  are,  there 
ought  to  be  no  fear  of  a  foreign  aggressor.  The  danger 
is  within,  in  ourselves,  and  to  be  taken  into  account  as  a 
very  great  factor  of  national  peril.  Against  that  foe, 
taught  by  the  light  of  experience,  there  is  only  one  defence, 
only  one  safeguard,  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son 
of  the  living  God,  the  Church  which  teaches  restraint  of 
the  passions,  which  fearlessly  denounces  all  infractions  of 
morality  and  prevents  them  as  far  as  is  possible  by  the 
purity  with  which  it  invests  man  and,  principally,  woman, 
and  which  is  ready  at  any  cost  to  defend  the  honor  and 
inviolability  of  the  marriage  tie  and  the  sanctity  of  the 
Christian  home. 

It  is  the  corruption  of  life  which  strikes  at  a  nation's 
heart,  and  that  can  be  averted  by  Christianity  alone.  If 
she  purifies,  she  saves;  and  such  has  been  her  aim,  and 
such  has  been  her  glorious  achievement. 

It  is  Christianity  alone  which  has  lifted  woman  from 
degradation  and  slavery  and  given  her  the  honor  which 


MARRIAGE  61 

she  enjoys  to-day.  For  looking  back  over  the  past,  what 
women  appear  on  the  surface  of  Pagan  history?  Those 
who  were  distinguished  were  impure,  and  they  were  har- 
bingers of  national  ruin.  Among  the  Jews,  how  few  were 
even  conspicuous;  and  they  were  so  for  actions  difficult  to 
explain  according  to  our  code  of  morals.  But  Christianity 
started  with  the  ideal  woman  and  has  clung  to  her  with 
intense  and  ever-growing  affection  ever  since.  The  woman 
before  whom  an  angel  knelt  to  announce  the  Incarnation 
of  the  Son  of  God;  the  woman  holding  in  her  lap  the 
new-born  Christ  in  the  poverty  and  want  of  Bethlehem, 
and  then  standing  while  the  world  was  darkened  and  rocked 
beneath  her  feet  during  the  horrible  agonies  of  the  Cruci- 
fixion; the  Maiden  Mother  in  the  absolute  whiteness  of 
her  purity;  the  crowned  queen  whom  the  Apostle  saw  in 
the  glory  of  the  skies  clothed  with  light  as  with  a  ves- 
ture, while  the  stars  came  with  their  radiance  to  crown 
her,  strong  in  the  cause  of  God  as  an  army  set  in  battle 
array,  yet  fair  as  Jerusalem  and  encircled  with  roses  like 
the  days  of  the  spring;  the  one  who  has  been  on  earth 
the  dream  of  the  painter  and  the  glorious  inspiration  of 
the  poets,  so  elevated  in  heaven,  yet  a  child  of  earth;  a 
woman  with  feelings  and  hopes  and  joys  like  other  women, 
and  nevertheless  honored  with  the  incomprehensible  dig- 
nity of  the  mother  of  the  Redeemer  —  such  is  the  ideal 
of  the  Christian  woman  actually  realized  —  living  in  the 
Mother  of  Christ,  whose  maternity  was  so  marvellous  that 
her  virginity  was  not  taken  from  her.  No  wonder  it 
lifted  all  women  up  in  dignity  and  honor  and  filled  them 
with  exaltation  and  delight.  With  the  unerring  instinct 
that  recognized  the  source  of  Mary's  holiness  to  be  her 
association  with  Christ,  they,  too,  reached  out  to  the 
Christ  as  soon  as  He  appeared.  Instantly,  from  humble 
Galilee  as  well  as  from  the  court  of  Herod  and  the  Prae- 
torium  of  Pilate,  mothers,  wives,  and  maidens,  the  pure 


62  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

as  well  as  the  castaways,  all  recognized  that  the  dark  night 
which  had  intervened  since  the  curse  was  ended;  and  from 
the  very  beginning  they  were  found  always  the  most  faith- 
ful and  devoted  of  His  followers,  lingering  near  Him  in 
all  His  sorrows  and,  when  men  had  left  Him,  weeping  at 
the  foot  of  the  cross.  So,  too,  in  all  the  Church's  history 
women  of  every  age  and  condition  have  been  honored  by 
Christ's  representatives,  and  they  have  recognized  and  re- 
sponded to  the  revolution  which  Christ  has  effected  for 
them.  They  have  reigned  as  glorious  queens  like  Pulcheria, 
who  dared  to  reply  to  the  savage  invader,  "  We  have  gold 
for  our  friends,  but  steel  for  our  enemies  " ;  they  have  led 
armies  to  victory  like  Joan  of  Arc;  have  swayed  the  desti- 
nies of  Christendom,  like  Catharine  of  Siena;  have  disputed 
with  philosophers  like  her  of  Alexandria;  have  sat  in  the 
chairs  even  of  papal  universities  long  before  this  silly  clamor 
for  their  emancipation  was  heard  of.  They  learned  from 
Christianity  that  woman  is  not  man's  slave,  but  his  equal, 
and  that  her  marriage  is  not  the  degrading  bondage  bind- 
ing fetters  upon  her  body  and  soul,  but  a  union  that  puts 
a  new  diadem  upon  her  brow  and  fits  her  for  her  great 
work  in  the  redemption,  elevation,  and  sanctification  of 
the  world. 

The  Redeemer  of  Mankind,  looking  at  marriage  as  the 
world  had  dishonored  and  desecrated  it,  exclaimed,  and 
there  was  grief  in  the  short  word,  "  It  was  not  thus  in 
the  beginning."  What  was  it  in  the  beginning?  Behold 
it  as  it  was  celebrated  in  the  Garden  of  Paradise,  the  sanc- 
tuary of  the  newly  created  world,  the  most  sacred  spot 
in  the  vast  temple  of  the  universe.  There  in  the  morning 
of  creation  stand  two  of  the  fairest  of  God's  creatures,  the 
king  and  queen  of  the  visible  world,  to  be  joined  together 
in  marriage  by  God  Himself.  Around  them  shines  the 
glory  of  their  holiness  and  their  earthly  forms  are  radiant 
with  the  light  of  their  immortality.  Well  may  we  think 


MARRIAGE  63 

without  exuberance  of  fancy  that  on  that  first  nuptial  morn 
all  nature  was  singing  its  hymns  of  joy,  that  each  blade 
and  bush  was  vocal  with  minstrelsy,  that  the  forests  upon 
the  mountain  side  swayed  to  the  breeze  that  came  singing 
the  song,  and  the  waves  upon  the  sea  danced  brighter  in 
the  sunlight,  and  from  the  snow-capped  peaks  the  hymn 
arose  and  star  repeated  it  to  star  till  it  reached  the  angelic 
choirs,  whose  harps  and  voices  filled  the  skies  with  sweetest 
music  as  they  gazed  at  these  earthly  nuptials,  and  lifted 
high  their  canticles  of  joy  above  the  twain  whom  God  so 
wonderfully  loved.  They  are  in  the  presence  of  God.  The 
first  mortal  hands  are  joined,  the  first  bridal  troth  is  inter- 
changed, and  the  voice  of  God  has  pronounced  them  one. 
Their  wedded  love  has  come  to  them  from  God,  and  will 
be  to  them  a  path  of  light  and  joy  to  lead  them  up  to  Him 
from  Whom  all  holy  love  descends.  They  are  two  in  one 
flesh. 

To  the  sacredness  with  which  God  has  invested  it  in 
Paradise  He  adds  a  glory  in  the  New  Covenant  with  men. 
You  will  permit  me,  I  trust,  to  note  that  in  the  Church 
to  which  I  belong  the  marriage  contract  when  properly 
performed  is  encompassed  with  all  the  glory  that  the  most 
solemn  liturgy  can  bestow  upon  it.  In  the  midst  of  the 
sanctuary,  in  what  we  regard  as  the  Holy  of  Holies  of 
the  New  Law,  it  makes  part  with  the  solemn  rites  which 
we  believe  is  the  sacrifice  where  the  Lamb  is  mystically 
slain.  It  is  at  the  altar  where  ministering  angels  bow  down 
in  adoration  and  sing  their  glad  hosannas  to  the  Lord  God 
of  Sabaoth  that  the  two  spouses  are  brought  to  pledge  their 
marriage  faith.  They  have  purified  their  souls  in  the  laver 
of  penance,  and  have  sanctified  themselves  still  more  by 
another  divine  sacrament,  and  kneeling  at  the  feet  of  the 
vested  priest,  in  a  place  where  at  that  time  not  even  a  con- 
secrated nun  dare  enter,  they  seal  their  marriage  contract 
in  the  blood  of  Christ,  for  they,  and  not  the  priest,  are 


64  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

the  ministers  of  that  sacrament.  "  I  give  and  I  take  "  are 
spoken,  and  there  comes  through  the  channel  of  those  words 
a  greater  dower  than  all  the  treasures  of  earth  can  give, 
a  communication  of  divine  help,  which  while  elevating  them 
in  the  sphere  of  holiness  enables  them  perfectly  to  fulfil 
the  grave  and  sacred  obligations  of  their  state  of  life.  They 
rise  up  one  flesh,  never  to  be  separated,  and  are  holy  in 
the  sight  of  the  angels  and  of  God. 

No  wonder  that  the  Church  regards  as  most  sacred  this 
compact  between  man  and  woman.  No  wonder  that  it 
proclaims,  as  it  always  must  do,  that  this  contract  can 
never  be  dissolved,  though  the  world  seems  to  fall  in  ruins 
around. 

In  this  connection  will  you  again  pardon  me  if  I  produce 
as  an  illustration  that  historic  event  which  first  brought  re- 
ligious difference  among  us  who  speak  the  English  tongue. 
I  hope  I  can  presume  the  more  easily,  as  it  is  not  a  matter 
of  doctrine,  but  of  history,  and  in  no  way  touches  the  reli- 
gious views  of  this  great  university.  Do  you  recall  that 
momentous  period  which  perhaps  has  changed  the  course 
of  events  of  all  modern  times,  when  an  English  king,  one 
in  whose  veins  Catholic  blood  coursed  down  from  a  long 
line  of  Catholic  ancestors;  a  king  who  was  honored  by  the 
Pope  with  the  title  of  the  Defender  of  the  Faith,  a  title 
to  which  all  his  successors  have  clung  tenaciously;  the  king 
whom  England  numbers  as  its  Eighth  Henry,  approached 
the  sanctuary  in  the  fury  of  an  illicit  passion  and  demanded 
the  annulment  of  his  marriage  with  his  rightful  queen  and 
wife? 

It  was  an  awful  crisis  for  the  See  of  Rome.  All  Ger- 
many had  broken  away  from  it.  France  and  Switzerland 
were  already  half  gone.  The  northern  nations  had  also 
deserted  or  were  swept  away;  the  whole  East  was  long 
under  the  dominion  of  the  enemies  of  Christianity,  when 
into  the  gloom  of  the  general  disaster  enters  one  of  the 


MARRIAGE  65 

mightiest  monarchs  of  Europe,  one  who  but  a  moment  be- 
fore had  been  the  Church's  champion,  and  makes  a  demand 
which,  if  not  granted,  will  add  England  to  the  universal 
rebellion.  England,  for  centuries  the  home  of  multitudes 
of  glorious  saints;  England,  crowned  with  the  most  mag- 
nificent of  earthly  temples  where  Catholic  worship  had  been 
offered  for  ages;  England,  whence  Catholicity  out  of  its 
numberless  sanctuaries  had  poured  out  Christianity  as  a 
river  upon  the  continent  of  Europe;  England,  unless  the 
demand  of  its  ruler  is  granted,  is  to  be  lost  to  Rome 
forever. 

From  the  standpoint  of  Rome  what  an  awful  alternative 
that  was!  It  needed  not  the  eye  of  a  prophet  to  forecast 
the  future.  Apart  from  the  new  power  added  to  the  gen- 
eral revolt,  apart  from  the  misconception  and  aversion 
which  would  possess  the  English  mind  for  centuries  wher- 
ever the  English  tongue  would  be  spoken  or  English  power 
extend  its  influence,  wars,  strifes,  and  persecutions  would 
add  their  sanguinary  horrors  to  the  havoc  already  made, 
as  the  nation  went  further  and  further  in  its  rebellion 
against  the  Mother  Church. 

What  was  to  be  done?  Avert  all  that  by  simply  an- 
nulling the  marriage,  or  come  boldly  forward  as  the  de- 
fender of  a  helpless  woman  whom  all  the  world  had 
deserted?  Let  us  see.  "Stand  forth,  Catharine  of  Ara- 
gon,"  said  the  august  synod  in  her  husband's  court  which 
had  met  to  declare  her  no  longer  a  wife.  "  Behold  the 
wisdom  of  all  the  world  is  against  you,  and  all  the  learn- 
ing of  the  greatest  universities  declares  your  marriage 
null."  "  I  appeal  to  Rome,"  she  answered.  "  But  all  the 
power  of  your  royal  consort  is  pledged  to  annul  it;  your 
imperial  kinsman  who  might  prevent  it  is  silent."  "  I 
appeal  to  Rome."  "  Nay,  even  the  learning  of  the  body 
empowered  by  Rome  lends  its  authority  against  you.  What 
say  you?"  "  I  reject  you  all,  unworthy  judges,  and  over 


66  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

your  heads  I  appeal  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome  himself,  in 
whom  alone  of  all  the  world  I  place  my  trust."  "  What ! 
think  you  he  will  for  you  forget  all  the  past  of  England? 
Will  he  for  you  face  all  the  terrors  of  the  future  where 
the  interests  of  the  Church  are  in  such  awful  jeopardy?" 
"  I  place  my  cause  in  his  hands,"  the  despairing  woman  still 
repeated;  and  listening  to  her  appeal,  the  Pontiff  arose  as 
her  champion,  and  though  all  the  casuistry  of  prelates,  of 
universities,  and  of  learned  men  was  striving  to  throw  a 
doubt  upon  her  marriage,  though  all  the  skill  of  diplomacy 
was  used  to  mislead  and  all  the  power  of  gold  to  bribe, 
though  all  the  terrors  of  the  future  were  known  and 
dreaded,  there  came  the  same  answer  that  has  come  at 
all  times,  the  only  answer  that  could  come,  an  answer  that 
will  reverberate  through  all  time  and  thrill  every  heart 
that  can  recognize  what  is  noble  and  sublime :  "  Non  pos- 
sumus.  We  cannot  do  it.  King  Henry!  she  is  your  law- 
ful wife  and  cannot  be  thrust  aside.  Whom  God  has 
joined  together,  let  no  man  put  asunder." 

Over  the  trembling  form  of  the  defenceless  and  deserted 
woman  he  extended  the  shield  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
and,  defying  every  foe  and  fearless  of  every  disaster,  kept 
upon  her  brow  the  coronet  of  wifehood,  more  precious  by 
far  than  the  fairest  diadem  that  ever  glittered  upon  the 
head  of  any  earthly  queen. 

The  issue  was  taken,  and  the  English-speaking  world 
is  Protestant  to-day,  you  will  permit  me  to  say,  not  because 
there  was  then  any  divergence  of  doctrine,  but  because  of 
that  fight  for  the  inviolability  of  the  marriage  vow  and 
the  rights  of  womankind.  It  was  war  to  prevent  her  from 
sinking  again  into  degrading  slavery.  Better  it  was  deemed, 
and  rightly  so,  that  an  entire  and  noble  race  should  be 
lost  to  the  Mother  Church  than  that  the  principle  upon 
which  the  salvation  of  all  nations  depends  should  for  a 
moment  be  abandoned  or  obscured. 


MARRIAGE  67 

Such  has  been  the  Church's  fight  from  the  beginning, 
for  England's  tragedy  is  one  of  the  many,  though  none 
was  fraught  with  such  subsequent  disaster  to  the  Church 
and  to  the  world.  And  such  it  must  be  till  the  end.  In 
this  as  in  all  other  matters  of  truth  and  morality  the 
Church  speaks  the  will  of  God.  It  is  God's  voice  to  man, 
and  it  must  ever  proclaim :  "  Marriage  must  be  as  it  was 
in  the  beginning.  On  that  hangs  the  fate  of  the  world." 

On  the  fortress-like  portal  of  one  of  our  great  armories 
is  the  inscription  cut  in  stone  (as  it  ought  to  be),  Pro  aris 
et  focis,  "  For  our  altars  and  our  fires."  In  that  is  the 
comprehensive  summing  up  of  all  that  we  have  been  say- 
ing. In  the  union  of  the  altar  and  the  hearthstone  is  to 
be  found  the  only  basis  of  a  genuine  and  lasting  civiliza- 
tion. For  it  is  by  the  power  of  the  altar  alone  that 
individual  man  can  be  purified  and  made  fit  to  live  at  the 
hearthstone.  It  is  by  that  power  alone  he  can  get  the 
strength  to  keep  in  check  the  degrading  animal  passions 
whose  undue  and  improper  satisfaction  is  the  cause  of 
most  of  the  violations  of  the  moral  law.  It  is  by  the 
altar  that  the  woman  puts  on  her  glory  and  her  beauty 
as  a  stainless  virgin  and  a  chaste  wife.  It  is  by  the  altar 
that  as  a  mother  she  becomes  the  priestess  in  the  sanctuary 
of  her  home,  and  makes  it  a  temple  where  no  unclean 
thing  may  enter.  It  is  by  the  altar  that  she  imparts  to 
her  sons  and  daughters  the  purity  that,  shining  resplendent 
in  herself,  insures  the  affectionate  and  admiring  fidelity  of 
her  husband,  and  makes  her  his  loving  and  devoted  guide 
in  prosperity  and  adversity,  rendering  him  happy  in  the 
touch  of  her  soft  but  pervasive  influence,  as,  hand  in  hand, 
they  journey  from  earth  to  heaven,  the  home  of  the  Father 
of  us  all.  It  is  by  the  altar  alone  that  home  is  made  a 
holy  place  like  the  one  where  they  stood  on  their  wedding 
day,  when  the  contract  which  their  hearts  and  lips  had 
made  was  sanctified  by  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  like 


68  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

that  other  sacred  spot  where  the  first  married  lovers  stood 
and  found  their  first  home  an  earthly  paradise,  when  God 
and  not  man  pronounced  them  one. 

To  keep  such  homes  as  God  made  them,  will  men  in 
times  of  peace  frame  wise  and  holy  laws,  and  if  for  them 
they  must  engage  in  the  carnage  of  war,  will  they  eagerly 
and  gladly  die.  Pro  aris  et  focis  means  something  for  those 
who  are  bred  in  Christian  homes;  for  those  who  are  not, 
the  motto  is  an  empty  mockery  of  meaningless  words. 

That  fire  which  burns  upon  the  altar  communicates  itself 
to  the  souls  of  those  who  dwell  in  the  household,  makes 
the  home  itself  shine  with  the  glory  of  the  sanctuary,  and 
from  the  united  virtues  which  are  illumined  in  those  cen- 
tres of  holiness,  diffuses  through  the  land,  wherever  such 
homes  are  found,  a  midday  splendor  of  truth,  fidelity,  self- 
restraint  and  purity  which  is  the  only  light  in  which  a 
nation  can  acquire  and  preserve  a  real  civilization.  "  In 
its  light  nations  shall  walk,  and  kings  in  the  brightness  of 
its  rising." 

Not  the  possession  of  wealth,  not  the  power  of  armies, 
not  mere  intellectual  culture,  but  the  personal  purity  of 
men  and  women,  the  sanctity  and  inviolability  of  the  mar- 
riage tie  and  the  altar-like  holiness  of  the  hearthstone,  are 
the  guarantees  of  the  peace,  the  prosperity,  and  the  prog- 
ress of  the  nations  of  the  world. 


Who  Delayed  the  Establishment  of  the 
American  Hierarchy? 

Before  the  American  Catholic  Historical  Society,  St.  Francis  Xavier's 
College,  New  York,  April  25,  1899 

IN  compliance  with  the  wish  of  the  distinguished  Presi- 
dent of  this  Society,  I  have  attempted  in  this  paper 
to  remove  certain  doubts  connected  with  the  inaugu- 
ration of  the  hierarchy  in  this  country.  It  is  but  just  to 
you,  however,  as  well  as  to  myself,  to  state  that  I  would 
have  made  another  choice  had  I  known  that  the  matter 
was  to  be  discussed  before  a  public  audience.  It  was  ap- 
proached under  the  impression  that  it  was  to  be  one  of 
those  ordinary  studies  with  which  historical  societies  occupy 
themselves  in  their  private  sessions,  and  ft  was  too  late 
to  select  a  different  theme  when  I  was  made  aware  of  the 
character  and  proportions  which  the  meeting  threatened 
to  assume.  Hence  I  hasten  to  warn  you  that  the  treatment 
of  the  subject,  which  in  point  of  fact  has  very  little  public 
interest,  will  appeal  rather  to  the  student  who  spends  his 
time  prowling  about  the  dusty  shelves  of  a  library  than 
to  the  audience  that  usually  gathers  in  the  auditorium  of 
a  lecture  hall. 

With  this  explanation  and  apology  let  me  address  myself 
to  the  question  that  first  presents  itself  in  this  connection, 
namely,  why  was  it  that  it  took  so  long  a  time  for  the 
American  hierarchy  to  be  established? 

The  Catholic  Colonists  came  over  with  Lord  Baltimore 
in  1634,  and  not  until  1789  was  the  first  bishop  conse- 
crated. The  delay  is  frequently  attributed  to  the  unwill- 
ingness of  the  missionaries  here  to  receive  a  bishop  among 


70  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

them.  At  first  sight  their  action  seems  to  be  reprehensible, 
but  I  am  convinced  that  if  we  do  not  examine  the  matter 
superficially,  satisfying  ourselves  with  expressions  taken 
out  of  their  context,  but  study  it  in  all  its  bearings,  and 
with  a  proper  regard  to  all  the  circumstances,  the  cloud 
which  rests  upon  the  reputation  of  the  noble  and  self- 
sacrificing  men  of  those  times  may  be  easily  dispelled. 

It  is  perfectly  true  that  a  remonstrance  was  made  to 
Bishop  Challoner  in  1765  by  the  clergy  and  principal  mem- 
bers of  the  laity  of  the  Colonies,  against  the  appointment 
of  a  bishop  or  vicar  apostolic  in  this  country.  It  is  also 
perfectly  true  that  Bishop  Challoner,  with  what  theologians 
would  characterize  as  material  uncharitableness  (for  even 
saints  can  sometimes  be  unkind),  ascribed  it  to  very  un- 
worthy motives,  first,  because  the  "  Padri,"  as  he  called 
his  priests  here,  had  "  an  unspeakable  repugnance  "  to  the 
presence  of  a  bishop  among  them,  and,  second,  because 
"  they  wanted  to  keep  the  best  places  for  themselves." 

Bishop  Challoner  was  firmly  convinced  of  the  correctness 
of  that  opinion,  for  two  years  before,  in  another  letter  to 
his  friend  Dr.  Stortor,  he  had  said  "  they  will  have  no 
relish  for  it,  as  they  have  engrossed  the  best  part  of  that 
mission  for  themselves." 

This  is  a  very  formidable  arraignment.  The  great  sanc- 
tity of  Bishop  Challoner  gives  unusual  weight  to  this  already 
grave  charge,  and  there  are  few  who  will  not  be  ready  to 
admit  —  for  we  all  reverence  his  authority  —  that  there 
must  have  been  a  solid  reason  for  what  such  a  great  and 
good  man  so  solemnly  declares,  and  at  the  end  of  two 
years  again  insists  upon. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  such  was  his  deep-seated  convic- 
tion, but,  on  the  other  hand,  we  are  not  compelled  on  that 
account  to  admit  its  objective  truth.  Sanctity  gives  no 
immunity  from  error,  and  prejudices  coming  from  one's 
education  or  surroundings  may  cause  almost  any  man,  even 


DELAY    OF   AMERICAN    HIERARCHY      71 

the  best,  while  being  in  perfect  good  faith,  to  view  things 
in  a  way  that  is  quite  distorted  and  unjust.  This,  with  all 
due  deference  to  the  illustrious  prelate,  we  tkink  can  be 
shown  to  be  the  case  in  the  present  instance. 

First,  with  regard  to  "  the  best  places,"  which  the  mis- 
sionaries had  "  engrossed  "  for  themselves,  we  ought  not 
to  forget  that  Jogues  had  occupied  some  of  them  on  the 
Mohawk,  the  Spanish  martyrs  some  on  the  Rappahannock, 
and  only  a  little  while  before  Rasle  had  been  murdered 
and  scalped  in  New  England.  But,  omitting  all  that,  we 
have  a  description  of  what  some  of  those  places  were 
about  the  time  of  the  Bishop's  complaint.  It  is  found  in 
a  letter  of  Father  Mosley,  written  to  his  brother,  a  priest 
in  England,  and  consequently  never  intended  for  publica- 
tion. The  date  is  1764. 

"  Our  journeys  are  very  long,"  he  says,  u  and  our  rides 
constant  and  extensive.  I  often  ride  about  three  hundred 
miles  a  week,  and  never  a  week  but  I  ride  one  hundred 
and  fifty  or  two  hundred  miles.  In  our  way  of  living  we 
ride  as  much  by  night  as  by  day;  in  all  weathers,  in  heats, 
colds,  rain,  frost,  and  snow.  You  must  not  imagine  that 
our  chapels  lie  as  yours  do.  They  are  in  great  forests, 
some  miles  away  from  any  house  of  hospitality.  Swamps, 
runs,  miry  holes,  lost  in  the  night,  etc.  —  this  as  yet,  and 
ever  will  in  this  country,  attend  us.  Between  three  and 
four  hundred  miles  was  my  last  Christmas  fare  on  one 
horse." 

He  regrets  that  one  of  the  posts  had  not  been  occupied, 
although  it  was  only  two  hundred  miles  away  (and  although 
several  missionaries  had  already  succumbed  in  their  at- 
tempts to  reach  it).  Unworldly  reasoning,  that!  He 
finally  settled  in  the  place,  and  lived  all  winter  in  an  un- 
plastered  log  hut  which  let  out  the  smoke  through  a  hole 
in  the  roof;  at  times  he  was  without  the  necessaries  of  life, 
but  thanked  God  he  had  wood  enough  to  keep  up  a  fire, 


72  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

and  expressed  his  delight  when  spring  came  that  things 
were  beginning  to  grow.  He  lived  there  seven  years. 

Shea  tells  us  that  the  average  missionary  district  was 
one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  long  and  forty  wide.  Some 
of  these  places  still  exist  in  the  lower  counties  of  Mary- 
land, which,  though  not  of  such  vast  extent,  nor  involving 
all  the  hardships  of  the  earlier  times,  are  yet  regarded  as 
missions  to  which  only  self-sacrificing  priests  can  be  sent. 
The  Padri  were  alone  in  caring  for  the  souls  that  were 
found  scattered  here  and  there  in  those  desolate  regions. 
Long  after  that  time  Carroll  complained  that  he  could 
get  no  suitable  priests  in  England  to  share  their  labors. 

But  what  puzzles  the  historian  in  this  particular,  is  that 
in  a  collection  of  manuscripts  in  the  Archives  of  Propa- 
ganda, written  after  1763  and  sent  from  the  Vicariate 
Apostolic  of  London,  on  the  condition  of  the  English 
Colonies  of  America,  we  find:  "The  Vicar  Apostolic  can- 
not provide  ecclesiastical  ministers,  partly  for  reasons  of 
distance,  partly  from  want  of  money  to  meet  the  expense." 
That  was  the  time  in  which  the  missionaries  were  said  to 
be  "  engrossing  the  best  places  for  themselves."  Whom, 
may  we  ask,  were  the  missionaries  excluding,  if  the  Bishop 
could  not  provide  ecclesiastical  ministers? 

Even  when  the  Colonies  were  in  absolute  destitution  for 
want  of  priests  as  much  as  ten  years  after  that,  namely, 
when  the  Society  of  Jesus  was  suppressed,  he  had  abso- 
lutely no  one  to  send. 

It  is  hard  to  reconcile  his  accusation  with  these  two  facts, 
except  that  worry  and  anxiety  about  the  condition  of  the 
Church,  combined,  we  must  confess,  with  a  good  deal  of 
prejudice,  made  him  forget  the  true  condition  of  his  re- 
sources. Doubtless  he  thought  that  even  if  he  had  had 
priests  to  send,  they  would  have  been  badly  received;  but, 
at  all  events,  whether  this  feeling  existed  or  not,  it  really 
was  inoperative  at  the  time  in  the  assignment  of  the  "  best 


DELAY    OF   AMERICAN    HIERARCHY      73 

places,"  for,  according  to  this  document,  no  applicants  for 
them  could  be  found. 

That  this  feeling  of  exclusiveness  did  not  exist  even  later, 
we  have  Carroll's  indignant  protest  as  proof.  But  he 
had  reason  to  regret  his  liberality  in  that  regard.  There 
were  indeed  applicants  in  his  time,  and  several  of  those, 
he  admitted,  embittered  the  last  days  of  his  life  and  did 
infinite  damage  to  the  faith.  His  letter  to  Archbishop 
Troy  as  to  what  kind  of  men  were  applying,  and  what 
kind  of  men  were  wanted,  is  worthy  of  perusal  for  the 
suggestion  it  conveys  of  the  desirability  of  exclusiveness. 
Father  Kohlman,  in  fact,  directly  advocated  measures  of 
that  kind,  prompted,  no  doubt,  by  the  deplorable  scandals 
which  had  almost  wrecked  religion  in  New  York  and  which 
he  had  to  deal  with. 

But  all  that  was  much  later.  In  Challoner's  time  there 
were  no  priests  to  send,  and  the  objectionable  utterance 
clearly  sprung  from  unkindly  feeling  to  which  doubtless  he 
did  not  avert.  It  may  have  been  an  echo  of  the  long  con- 
troversy which  had  been  going  on  in  England  between 
seculars  and  regulars;  or,  again,  as  it  was  the  time  of  the 
suppression  of  the  Society,  perhaps  he  was  merely  giving 
expression  to  the  sentiment  then  so  common  in  Europe, 
which  accepted  every  accusation  against  an  Order  on  which 
the  Church  was  putting  its  ban. 

But  we  need  discuss  this  point  no  further.  It  is,  after 
all,  only  a  side  issue  of  the  general  subject  we  are  study- 
ing, namely,  the  attitude  of  the  clergy  to  their  bishop.  It 
will  suffice  to  remark  that  the  men  who  introduced  Chris- 
tianity and  civilization  into  this  country,  and  who  had  given 
for  a  hundred  and  thirty  years  previous  to  this  accusation 
ample  proof  of  their  apostolic  character,  cannot  be  charged 
with  meanness  and  exclusiveness,  merely  on  a  hypothesis 
of  a  condition  of  things  which  possibly  might,  but  which 
in  reality  did  not,  exist. 


74  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

Regarding  the  alleged  delay  in  establishing  the  hierarchy 
here,  the  truth  is  that  there  never  seems  to  have  been  any 
question  of  it  until  1756.  It  was  first  suggested  by  Bishop 
Challoner,  before  he  became  Vicar  Apostolic  of  the  London 
District,  and  consequently  before  he  had  any  jurisdiction 
over  the  Colonies.  On  the  other  hand,  a  petition  was  sent 
from  here  for  some  one  with  episcopal  powers  as  early 
as  1783,  and  a  Prefect  Apostolic  was  on  the  ground  in 
1784.  So  that  in  point  of  fact,  even  supposing  that  some 
other  obstacles  did  not  prevent  it,  the  hierarchy,  at  the 
very  furthest,  could  have  been  inaugurated  only  twenty- 
seven  years  before  its  actual  establishment.  But  there  were 
other  absolutely  insuperable  obstacles  to  its  establishment 
during  part  of  that  time.  One  was  the  Revolutionary  War 
in  1776,  in  which  period  there  could  have  been  no  question 
of  a  bishop.  The  other  was  the  suppression  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus  in  1773,  when  Bishop  Challoner  had  not  a  single 
priest  to  send  out  to  take  the  place  of  the  dishonored 
missionaries. 

After  that  period  he  practically  dropped  all  communi- 
cation with  them,  resuming  it,  however,  three  years  later. 
They  were  like  outcasts  on  the  world  —  secularized,  and  yet 
with  no  bishop  to  care  for  them.  And  we  may  say  here  that 
had  they  not  been  the  men  that  they  were,  Catholicity 
would  have  perished  in  this  country. 

A  pathetic  letter  of  Father  Mosley  to  his  sister  well 
describes  their  feelings.  In  fact,  even  their  power  of  ad- 
ministering the  sacraments  was  questioned  by  priests  who 
came  over  subsequently,  and  Bishop  Talbot,  Challoner's 
successor,  said  he  could  not  give  them  faculties.  During 
that  sad  period,  when  these  excellent  priests  were,  as  Father 
Mosley  says,  "  covered  with  infamy  before  the  world," 
there  was  assuredly  no  opposition.  If  there  ever  was  any, 
it  must,  as  we  have  said,  be  sought  for  in  the  short  space 
of  time  between  1756  and  1773  —  a  period  of  seventeen 


DELAY    OF   AMERICAN    HIERARCHY      75 

years.     That  there  was  none  whatever  we   propose   to 
show. 

It  is  true,  as  we  have  said,  that  a  remonstrance  against 
having  a  resident  vicar  apostolic,  or  bishop,  was  sent  by 
the  priests,  or  Padri,  in  1765.  But  they  were  not  alone 
in  remonstrating.  The  most  distinguished  men  of  the  laity 
were  most  emphatic  in  expressing  their  unwillingness.  They 
also  sent  a  petition,  and  to  it  two  hundred  and  fifty-six 
signatures  are  appended.  By  the  kindness  of  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Hughes,  S.J.,  I  have  been  fortunate  enough  to 
obtain  a  copy  of  it,  which  I  here  give: 

"  Copy  of  ye  Petition  of  ye  R  C  to  Mr.  Dennett  relating  to  V:  A: 
"  Hond.  Sir 

"  Haveing  receivd  intelligence  yt  a  plan  is  on  footing  for  sending 
into  this  province  an  Apostollical  Vicar,  we  think  it  our  duty  to 
god,  ourselves,  &  posterity  to  represent  our  objections  against  such 
a  measure,  as  wt  would  give  our  adversaries,  bent  on  our  ruin,  a 
stronger  handle  yn  anything  they  have  hitherto  been  able  to  lay  hold 
on,  and  consequently  terminate  in  the  utter  exterpation  of  our  holy 
religion.  The  grounds  of  these  are  just  fears  &  apprehensions  are  — 
i°.  The  legislative  power  of  this  collony  is  so  disposed  with  regard 
to  those  of  our  persuasion,  as  to  have  made  many  attempts  of  late 
years  to  put  the  most  pernitious  penal  laws  in  force  against  us,  and 
are  still,  every  convention  aiming  more  or  less  at  something  of  yt 
kind.  Would  not  the  presence  of  An  Apostl.  Vicar  afford  a  new, 
and  strong  argument  for  further  deliberations  on  this  head.  —  2°. 
Amongst  the  sundry  motives  alledged  for  puting  the  penal  laws  in 
force,  one  of  the  strongest,  and  most  urged  was  the  too  public  exer- 
cise of  our  Divine  worship,  in  so  much  that  one  of  the  gentlemen  was 
obliged  to  quit  the  colony  to  avoid  being  summoned  for  a  fact  of 
that  kind.  Would  not  the  functions  of  an  Apostl.  Vicar  be  deemed 
a  more  public,  &  open  profession  thereof  than  anything  of  that  kind 
that  could  have  been  done  hitherto.  —  3°.  The  Gentn.  have  no  far- 
ther liberty  for  exercising  their  priestly  functions  yn.  in  a  private 
family,  &  that  by  a  particular  grant  of  Queen  Ann  suspending  dur- 
ing the  Royal  pleasure  ye  execution  of  an  act  of  Assembly,  by  wch 
it  was  made  high  treason  for  any  Priest  to  reside  in  the  colony,  wch. 
act  still  subsists,  &  will  of  course  take  place,  whenever  the  above 
grant  is  repeald.  Would  the  functions  of  an  Apostl.  Vicar  be  inter- 
preted functions  of  a  Priest  in  a  private  family?  4°.  Neither  this 
province,  nor  indeed  any  one  of  the  British  American  colony's  has 
ever  hitherto  had  one  of  that  Ecclesiastical  rank  &  dignity.  Would 
not  our  seting  the  ist.  example  of  yt  kind  appear  very  bold  &  pre- 
suming, if  not  also  even  dareing.  &  insulting.  Reflecting  on  these 


76  VARIOUS   DISCOURSES 

reasons  amongst  several  others,  we  cannot  but  judge  the  above  meas- 
ure of  sending  us  an  Aposl.  Vicar  in  the  present  situation  of  affairs 
would  necessarily  draw  after  it  the  utter  destruction  &  exterpation 
of  our  H.  religion  out  of  this  colony,  &  consequently  compel  us  either 
to  forfeit  a  great  part  of  our  estates  &  fortunes  in  order  to  retreat 
to  another  country,  or  utterly  give  up  the  exercise  of  our  H :  religion. 
We  therefore  by  all  that  is  sacred  intreat  you  Hd :  Sir,  as  head  of  the 
Genln.  we  have  for  our  teachers,  that  you  will  be  pleased  to  use  all 
yr  intrest  to  avert  so  fatal  a  measure,  &  as  far  as  you  judge  neces- 
sary or  proper  for  that  purpose  to  transmit  coppy's  hereof  to  all 
whom  it  may  concern.  In  testimony  whereof,  and  that  the  above 
are  the  true  sentiments  of  ye  Body  of  ye  R:  Catholicks  in  Mary- 
land we  R:  Caths.  of  the  said  province  have  hereunto  set  our  hands 
this  1 6  day  of  July  1765. 

"  C:  CARROLL 

"  IGN  :  DIGGS 

"  HEN.  DARNALL 

"  P.  MANNER  "  Sign'd  by  256." 

To  these  two  petitions  was  added  a  third  from  Charles 
Carroll  himself,  the  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. We  put  this  in  evidence  not  only  because  of 
the  prominence  of  the  man  himself,  but  because  he  makes 
a  point  of  informing  Bishop  Challoner  that  "  he  did  not 
write  it  at  the  instigation  of  the  Jesuits."  We  owe  this 
valuable  letter  to  the  same  esteemed  source  we  have  re- 
ferred to  above. 

"  Copy  of  ye  address  of  ye  R.  C.  relating  to  a  V.  A. 

ANNAPOLIS  IN  MARYLAND,  July  16-1765. 
"  My  Lord 

"The  revd.  Mr.  Jos:  Dennet  will  communicate  to  yr  Ld.ship  a 
letter  from  many  of  the  principal  Rom :  Caths :  of  Maryland  derected 
to  him,  wherein  they  set  forth  a  few  of  the  many,  and  weighty 
reasons  they  have  against  the  appointment  of  an  Apostl:  Vicar  for 
America.  Altho  I  have  subscribed  with  others  to  that  letter,  other 
considerations  have  induced  me  singly  to  address  myself  to  yr  Ldship 
on  the  subject.  Maryland  has  been  settled  above  a  130  years,  the 
Fathers  of  the  Society  accompanied  the  ist  settlers  our  fore  fathers, 
and  have  from  that  Period  to  the  present  time  very  justly  deserv'd 
our  esteem,  love,  &  gratitude,  an  uninterrupted  peace  &  harmony 
has  at  all  times  as  well  as  at  the  present  subsisted  between  us  & 
these  our  spiritual  guides.  Should  an  Apostl.  Vicar,  or  Priest  of 
any  other  Denomination  be  sent  amongst  us,  I  am  fearfull  ye  peace 
&  harmony  wch.  has  so  long  subsisted,  will  be  very  soon  banished. 
I  have  many  reasons  to  alledge  agst.  such  a  step,  too  tedious  to 


DELAY    OF   AMERICAN    HIERARCHY      77 

trouble  you  with,  and  of  wch.  many  must  be  obvious  to  yr.  Ldship. 
Yr.  Ldship  must  know,  yt  for  many  years  past  attempts  have  been 
made  to  establish  a  Protestant  Bishop  on  this  continent,  and  yt  such 
attempts  have  been  as  constantly  oppos'd  thro  the  fix'd  avertion  ye 
people  of  America  in  general  have  to  a  person  of  such  a  character. 
If  such  is  the  avertion  of  Protestants  to  a  Protestant  Bishop,  with 
wt.  an  eye  will  they  look  upon  an  Apostl.  Vicar.  I  am  confident 
no  one  here  have  ever  thought  such  a  person  necessary.  Some  may 
suggest  yt  this  my  letter  to  yr.  Ldship  as  well  as  the  R.  Caths. 
letter  to  Mr.  Dennet  has  been  wrote  at  the  instigation  of  the  Jesuits. 
For  myself  my  Lord  I  most  sincerely  profess  yt  uninfluenced  by 
'em  I  write  this,  &  sign'd  ye  other  letter,  wch.  contains  not  only  my 
own  but  I  am  well  convinced  ye  true  sentiments  of  every  Rom: 
Cathck.  in  Maryland.  I  writ  it  in  order  to  continue  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  my  spiritual  peace,  &  a  quite  possession  of  my  Temporal 
goods,  and  from  these  motives  only,  &  I  beg  yr  Ldship  to  believe 
me.  I  therefore  most  humbly  entreat  yr  Ldship  by  the  Dignity  you 
hold  in  the  Church,  by  the  zeal  you  have  for  God's  honor  &  glory, 
yt  you  would  strenuously  oppose  by  all  means  becoming  yr  Charac- 
ter, ye  appointment  of  an  Apostl.  Vicar  for  America.  But  in  case 
such  a  one  should  be  appointed,  I  most  earnestly  beseech  you,  if 
possible  to  put  a  stop  to  his  comeing  hither,  as  such  a  step  I  am 
afraid  will  create  great  troubles  here,  &  give  a  handle  to  our  eni- 
mies  to  endevour  at  the  total  suppression  of  the  exercise  of  our  Re- 
ligion, &  otherwise  most  griviously  to  molest  us. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  yr  Ldships  most  obfc,  &  most  humble 
servt. 

"CHA:  CARROLL. 

"  P.S.  —  I  have  my  Lord  sent  coppies  of  this  my  letter  to  ye 
Rd.  Mr.  Dennett  in  order  yt  he  may  cooperate  with  yr  Ldship  to 
prevent  a  step  wch  to  me  seems  most  fatal  &  pernicious." 

As  regards  these  three  petitions,  we  must  bear  in  mind 
that  they  were  perfectly  legitimate  and  quite  within  the 
usual  and  accepted  lines  of  ecclesiastical  procedure.  They 
were  not  sent  to  Rome  over  the  head  of  the  Bishop,  or 
to  any  extraneous  power,  but  were  presented  to  the  Bishop 
himself  by  those  whom  he  regarded  as  his  subjects,  whose 
work  he  had  often  praised,  and  who  had  always  loyally 
upheld  his  authority.  There  was  nothing  secret  or  under- 
hand in  them.  They  were  not  the  outcome  of  a  cabal  or 
organized  opposition,  but  an  honest  and  plain  statement 
of  facts  such  as  every  sincere  man  is  compelled  in  con- 
science to  make  to  his  superior,  even  at  the  risk  of  mis- 


78  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

understanding,  when  there  is  question  of  a  measure  which 
he  deems  unwise,  holding  himself  in  readiness  to  obey  if 
it  should  be  ordained  otherwise,  as  was  certainly  the  case 
in  this  instance.  That  they  were  addressed  to  the  Bishop 
to  be  decided  upon  by  him  puts  quite  another  complexion 
upon  the  whole  matter,  and  shows  that  it  was  a  case  of 
submission  and  not  of  resistance.  To  deny  such  a  right 
to  the  humblest  country  curate  in  regard  to  his  bishop, 
or,  for  the  matter  of  that,  to  the  commonest  laborer  in 
dealing  with  his  employer,  would  be  the  most  odious 
tyranny,  and  while  being  morally  wrong  would  simply  in- 
vite disaster.  Nor  could  the  motive  of  the  distinguished 
and  holy  men  who  made  it  be  impugned. 

To  an  unbiassed  mind  there  can  be  no  question  that  it 
was  not  this  submissive,  respectful,  and  deferential  declara- 
tion of  opinion,  but  the  stern,  hard  facts  which  that  declara- 
tion presented  to  the  Bishop's  consideration  which  prevented 
the  residence  of  a  vicar  apostolic  in  the  Colonies  at  that 
time.  Challoner  admitted  that  their  reasons  presented 
"  some  show  of  probability."  For  one  so  intent  upon  his 
purpose  to  admit  so  much  is  proof  enough  that  they  pre- 
sented more  than  probability.  Had  there  not  been  solid 
ground  for  this  appeal,  it  would  not  have  received  the 
slightest  consideration.  The  ecclesiastical  appellants  at 
least,  though  they  were  great  men,  had  very  little  weight 
in  ecclesiastical  councils  at  that  time  in  England  or  any 
other  country,  and  were  soon  to  have  none  at  all.  It  was 
the  facts  which  spoke. 

What  these  facts  were  which  prevented,  or  rather  de- 
ferred, the  appointment  of  a  resident  bishop  in  the  Colo- 
nies during  those  seventeen  years,  is  the  purpose  of  this 
paper  to  show. 

For  a  long  time  prior  to  the  Revolution  this  country 
was  part  of  the  Apostolic  Vicariate  of  London.  It  was 
so  constituted  as  far  back  as  1702.  The  priests  received 


DELAY    OF   AMERICAN    HIERARCHY      79 

faculties  from  the  incumbent  of  that  vicariate;  his  vicar- 
general  resided  here ;  his  pastorals  were  duly  promulgated ; 
he  was  regularly  informed  of  the  status  of  the  clergy;  the 
records  of  marriages,  births,  etc.,  were  duly  transmitted 
to  him.  He  frequently  expressed  his  approval  of  their 
work.  In  a  word,  although  more  remote,  it  was  as  much 
under  episcopal  control  as  England  was  at  the  same  period. 

But  why  was  it  not  erected  in  1763  or  before  that  into 
a  separate  vicariate? 

In  the  first  place,  perhaps  it  may  be  worth  while  to  re- 
mark that  even  if  it  had  been,  it  would  not  have  been  the 
beginning  of  an  American  hierarchy  in  the  sense  in  which 
we  now  use  the  word.  The  priests  and  people  of  that  day 
were  intensely  English.  Even  Washington  himself  would 
have  resented  any  other  appellation.  No  thought  of  sepa- 
ration from  the  mother  country  was  entertained  except  by 
a  few  advanced  patriots  like  Samuel  Adams  and  his  asso- 
ciates in  New  England.  That  idea  developed  with  the 
progress  of  the  war.  Had  there  been  a  vicariate  erected 
it  would  not  have  been  an  American,  but  merely  a  sub- 
division of  an  already  existing  English  vicariate.  But  why 
was  it  not  done  in  any  case?  It  would  be  just  as  superfluous 
to  ask  why  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Boston  did  not 
antedate  their  actual  establishment,  but  remained  for  some 
years  as  part  of  the  diocese  of  Baltimore.  In  the  wis- 
dom and  prudence  of  those  to  whom  God  had  intrusted 
the  determining  of  such  matters  it  was  considered  inop- 
portune, or  the  condition  of  things  rendered  it  absolutely 
impossible  of  realization. 

In  the  case  under  consideration,  however,  Bishop  Chal- 
loner  deemed  it  most  opportune,  though  in  point  of  fact 
it  was  not  only  unnecessary  and  inopportune,  but  abso- 
lutely impossible  of  realization. 

It  was  not  necessary,  for  there  was  only  one  thing  in 
the  management  of  this  part  of  his  vicariate  that  gave 


8o  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

him  any  cause  of  worry  or  anxiety.  Everything  else,  until 
calumnies  began  to  multiply,  merited  and  received  his  ap- 
proval. That  worry  was  about  the  difficulty  of  adminis- 
tering the  Sacrament  of  Confirmation.  Again  and  again 
it  recurs  in  his  writings  and  seemed  to  pursue  him  like  a 
phantom. 

Why,  in  that  case,  did  he  not  have  his  Vicar-General 
or  some  one  else  empowered  to  administer  it?  That  was 
common  enough  in  the  Church,  and  the  Superiors  of  the 
Franciscans  in  New  Mexico,  Texas,  and  California  had  the 
privilege,  and,  what  is  more  noteworthy,  at  that  very  time 
(1763),  Dr.  Camps,  the  parish  priest  of  a  few  immigrants 
in  Florida  after  the  Spaniards  had  been  expelled  and  at  a 
time  when  it  was  under  British  rule,  possessed  it  also.  "  It 
is  a  cause  of  surprise,"  says  Shea,  "  that  this  old  estab- 
lished church  could  not  obtain  what  was  accorded  so  easily 
elsewhere." 

Very  likely  the  reason  is  that  as  all  the  priests  here  were 
Jesuits,  and  as  the  suppression  of  the  Society  was  in  the 
air,  either  fear  or  prejudice  prevented  the  Bishop  from 
conferring  even  the  shadow  of  episcopal  jurisdiction  on 
any  one  of  its  members,  though  we  cannot  see  how  that 
would  have  held  after  the  suppression  of  the  Society  had 
taken  place,  except  that  the  old  dislike  remained.  In  any 
case  the  blame,  though  doubtless  not  the  moral  fault,  of 
not  having  the  Sacrament  of  Confirmation  given  in  America 
will  have  to  be  laid  most  likely  at  the  door  of  the  holy 
Bishop,  himself,  since  its  administration  could  have  been 
so  easily  procured.  His  project  of  having  a  resident  vicar 
was  not  only  unnecessary,  as  we  have  seen,  but  utterly  out 
of  the  question.  At  first  he  proposed  to  appoint  several. 
How  that  scheme  could  be  realized  is  incomprehensible. 
There  was  certainly  no  possibility  of  one  in  New  England 
or  New  York,  where  he  himself,  in  a  letter  to  Stonor 
(1765),  says:  "  If  there  be  any  straggling  Catholics,  they 


DELAY    OF   AMERICAN    HIERARCHY      81 

can  have  no  exercise  of  their  religion,  as  no  priests  ever 
come  near  them,  nor,  to  judge  by  the  present  disposition 
of  the  inhabitants,  are  ever  likely  to  be  admitted  among 
them." 

Nor  could  there  have  been  one  in  Maryland,  where  the 
persecution  was  so  fierce  that  the  Catholics  were  on  the 
point  of  abandoning  the  Colony  altogether.  Shea  says  that 
"  in  1763  Catholicity  was  apparently  crushed,  never  to  rise 
again  in  the  northern  parts  of  the  western  continent.  The 
early  Catholic  missions  in  the  north  and  west,  the  long- 
suffering  Jesuits  and  their  flocks  in  Maryland,  all  seemed 
menaced  with  extinction  under  the  triumphant  tyranny  of 
Protestant  intolerance,  which  to  the  human  eye  was  destined 
to  banish  all  trace  of  Catholicity  from  the  land,  as  it  had 
done  in  Florida." 

But  it  was  deemed  that  at  least  one  might  be  established 
in  Philadelphia,  where  there  was  a  little  more  tranquillity 
than  elsewhere.  Was  that  feasible?  At  that  time  there 
was  just  one  priest  in  Philadelphia,  Father  Harding;  Father 
Farmer,  who  was  associated  with  him,  spending  most  of 
his  time  in  missionary  excursions  through  the  Jerseys  and 
New  York.  There  did  not  seem  to  be  much  room  for  a 
bishop  with  such  a  small  body  of  clergy  behind  him.  There 
were  only  two  other  priests  in  the  whole  State  —  one  in 
Goshenhoppen,  the  other  in  Lancaster.  But  what  was  the 
real  reason  finally  why  a  vicar  was  not  appointed? 

After  all  this  discussion  of  the  possibilities  of  the  case, 
the  real  reason  comes  somewhat  as  a  shock  and  a  surprise, 
but  there  is  no  evading  it;  it  is  clearly,  succinctly,  and  ex- 
plicitly stated  in  Challoner's  letter  to  Stonor,  February  15, 
1765,  in  which  he  writes:  "  I  know  of  no  one  that  would 
be  proper  for  that  station  who  could  be  spared  by  us  in 
our  present  circumstances."  This  was  nine  years  after  the 
subject  was  first  broached.  It  is  a  great  pity  that  the  mis- 
sionaries were  not  aware  of  that  before  they  sent  their 


82  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

remonstrance.  It  would  have  helped  their  reputation  for 
shrewdness  and  would  have  spared  them  many  a  suspicion 
and  reproach.  But  in  any  case,  we  respectfully  submit  that 
this  single  phrase,  "  I  know  of  no  one  that  would  be  proper 
for  that  station  who  could  be  spared  by  us  in  our  present 
circumstances,"  disposes  peremptorily  of  the  whole  matter. 
It  is  idle  to  say  that  opposition  of  the  clergy  here  stood 
in  the  way  of  sending  a  bishop,  when  admittedly  there 
was  no  one  to  send.  There  was  no  one  in  England;  there 
was  no  one  in  America.  It  was  like  the  reason  of  the  old 
Governor  for  not  firing  a  royal  salute:  "There  was  no 
powder,  sir." 

But  even  if  there  were  powder,  there  were  other  most 
potent  reasons  why  the  appointment  of  a  resident  bishop 
was  then  an  utter  impossibility;  and  upon  these  points  I 
wish  to  lay  particular  stress. 

The  first  reason  was  the  attitude  of  the  British 
Government. 

The  fierce  Puritanism  of  the  Colonies  was  then  at  white 
heat.  It  was  raging  furiously  against  prelacy  of  every 
kind,  Protestant  as  well  as  Catholic,  and  the  appointment 
of  a  Catholic  bishop  would  have  simply  precipitated  the 
Revolution. 

The  sentiments  of  the  Puritans  were  perfectly  well 
known.  The  eleventh  grievance  alleged  against  the  mother 
country  by  the  patriots,  who  met  in  Faneuil  Hall  in  1772, 
was  that  England  was  going  to  introduce  the  prelacy  of 
the  Established  Church  into  the  Colonies,  and  following 
in  the  same  strain,  and  adding  another  complaint,  the  Con- 
tinental Congress  of  1774  expressed  its  indignation  that 
the  Home  Government  had,  by  the  Quebec  Act,  established 
"  a  sanguinary  and  impious  religion  upon  our  borders." 
Suppose  that  England  had  permitted  the  establishment  of 
that  same  impious  and  sanguinary  religion  within  our  bor- 
ders, what  would  have  been  the  consequence? 


DELAY    OF   AMERICAN    HIERARCHY      83 

Very  few  people  are  aware  that  during  the  entire  colo- 
nial period,  England  had  never  dared  appoint  a  single 
bishop  of  the  Established  Church  in  this  country,  and  when 
two  ministers  of  Virginia,  Talbot  and  Welton,  shocked 
by  the  disorders  of  the  Protestant  clergy,  which  they  at- 
tributed to  the  absence  of  episcopal  supervision,  went  to 
England  to  have  themselves  appointed  bishops,  .they  were 
on  their  return  immediately  punished  —  one  being  sent 
back  to  England,  the  other  degraded  from  the  position 
he  had  formerly  occupied. 

It  is  clear  that  in  such  a  state  of  the  public  mind  the 
establishment  of  a  Catholic  bishopric  here  was  simply  out 
of  the  question,  and  useless  besides,  as  the  only  end  to  be 
obtained  was  the  conferring  of  a  sacrament  which  could 
easily  have  been  provided  for  otherwise.  Everything  else 
was  admittedly  in  excellent  condition. 

Second.  Not  only  would  the  appointment  of  a  bishop 
have  incensed  the  Protestant  Colonists,  but  it  would  have 
embroiled  the  Catholics  with  the  Home  Qovernment  as 
well.  Such  an  appointment  would  have  come  only  through 
the  hands  of  Prince  Henry,  Cardinal  Duke  of  York,  the 
brother  of  the  Pretender,  Charles  Edward.  The  Cardinal 
lived  in  Rome,  and  all  English  ecclesiastical  matters  passed 
through  his  hands.  Clearly  such  an  act  as  making  a  bishop 
in  a  place  where  the  Government  feared  even  to  have  one 
of  the  Established  Church,  and  of  having  him  designated 
by  a  prince  of  the  house  of  Stuart,  which  was  in  actual 
war  with  the  reigning  sovereign,  would  have  authorized 
very  stringent  measures  against  the  Catholics,  not  only  in 
the  Colonies,  but  in  England  itself.  It  would  certainly 
have  been  regarded  as  an  act  of  rebellion. 

Third.  Even  supposing  that  a  bishop  could  have  come 
over,  the  probability  was,  for  a  time  at  least,  that  he  would 
not  have  had  a  flock  to  govern.  So  intolerable  had  the 
persecution  of  Catholics  become  that  Charles  Carroll,  the 


84  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

father  of  the  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
had  actually  gone  to  the  court  of  France  in  1752  to  ask 
for  a  grant  of  land  in  Arkansas,  so  that  the  Catholics  of 
Maryland  might  abandon  English  territory  altogether. 
With  that  large  portion  of  the  Catholic  body  lost,  what 
would  a  bishop  have  to  do? 

If,  then,  there  was  any  fear  of  having  a  bishop  reside 
in  the  Colonies  at  that  time,  it  was  certainly  warranted 
by  the  circumstances.  The  opinion  of  the  wise  and  devoted 
priests  of  this  country,  backed  as  it  was  by  that  of  the 
laity,  was  assuredly  the  only  criterion  in  such  a  matter. 
It  was  not  prompted  by  any  spirit  of  insubordination,  or 
by  a  desire  of  withdrawal  from  episcopal  control,  or  by 
any  unworthy  motive  of  excluding  others,  but  by  an  ap- 
prehension of  disaster  which  it  seemed  most  unwise  to 
provoke.  The  end  to  be  obtained  was  altogether  out  of 
proportion  with  the  means  to  be  employed. 

It  is  intelligible  that  when  there  is  question  of  the  sal- 
vation of  souls  one  should  face  persecution,  and  even  death, 
if  inevitable,  but  to  invite  it  for  a  sacrament  which  is  not 
absolutely  necessary,  and  for  which  there  was  really  no 
difficulty  in  providing  in  a  way  quite  in  keeping  with  the 
ordinary  methods  of  the  Church,  is  a  proceeding  that  could 
hardly  be  justified. 

In  fact,  that  question  had  already  been  passed  upon  in 
the  case  of  English  Catholics  more  than  a  hundred  years 
before.  Through  the  kindness  of  Father  Hughes,  I  am 
put  in  possession  of  the  following  facts.  In  1612  the 
Archbishop  of  Rhodes,  sending  his  reports  from  Brussels 
to  Rome  on  the  subject  of  a  bishop  for  England,  passes 
a  splendid  eulogy  on  the  fortitude  of  English  Catholics, 
"  whom  God  by  His  singular  providence  has  known  how 
to  strengthen,  even  without  the  Sacrament  of  Confirmation." 

Again,  in  1624,  the  Scotch  clergy  addressed  a  memorial 
to  the  Pope  against  having  a  bishop  among  them,  espe- 


DELAY    OF   AMERICAN    HIERARCHY      85 

cially  because  he  would  have  to  be  an  Englishman.  Their 
national  animosity  was  deemed  a  sufficient  reason.  They 
discussed  several  aspects  of  the  question,  and  treated  only 
in  the  last  place  that  of  Confirmation.  They  declared  that 
for  the  solitary  advantage  to  be  derived  under  that  head 
from  the  presence  of  a  bishop,  it  is  not  necessary  to  incur 
so  much  damage :  "  Non  est  quod  pro  uno  beneficio  tot 
damna  manifesta  in  praesens  sustineant." 

A  similar  view  of  the  subject  may  be  found  in  a  docu- 
ment issued  by  Propaganda,  April,  1688,  on  behalf  of  the 
Congregation  of  the  Holy  Office,  and  directed  to  the  In- 
ternuncio  of  Flanders  on  English  affairs.  The  "  Instruc- 
tion "  simply  passes  over  the  question  of  Confirmation, 
although  that  had  been  distinctly  put  forward  as  one  of 
the  arguments  for  appointing  a  bishop. 

In  point  of  fact  the  power  of  confirming  had  in  the  early 
times  been  vested  in  the  missionaries  here.  For  in  a  me- 
moir of  Father  Grassi,  1836,  addressed  to  Father  General 
Roothan  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  the  following  statement 
is  made: 

"  In  view  of  the  very  great  distance  from  any  bishop, 
the  Holy  See  had  granted  extraordinary  faculties  to  Jesuit 
missionaries,  and  at  certain  times  even  that  of  administer- 
ing the  Sacrament  of  Confirmation  to  the  faithful  living 
in  those  far-off  regions."  Then  he  adds  in  a  note :  "  I 
saw  in  the  sacristy  of  the  residence  of  St.  Thomas,  near 
Portobacco,  in  the  year  1812,  letters  patent  for  such  a 
faculty." 

Possibly  before  Challoner's  time  those  faculties  had  been 
withdrawn.  At  all  events,  their  having  been  given  once, 
shows  how  easily  the  whole  matter  could  have  been  settled. 

Challoner's  suggestion  of  procuring  the  help  of  the 
Bishop  of  Quebec  could  not  possibly  be  acted  upon.  It 
may  serve,  however,  as  an  illustration  of  how  imperfect 
that  otherwise  excellent  man's  ideas  about  the  extent  and 


86  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

condition  of  the  country  were.  Yet  if  it  is  true  that  not 
only  then  but  after  that  time,  the  geographical  notions  even 
of  the  government  officials  were  so  vague,  that  in  the  war 
of  the  Revolution  the  British  fleet  was  ordered  to  sail  up 
the  Bronx  to  co-operate  with  Howe's  forces  in  the  battle 
of  White  Plains,  we  can  understand  how  Challoner's  geo- 
graphical ideas  were  so  much  at  fault.  "  The  Bishop  of 
Quebec,"  he  said,  "  is  at  no  very  great  distance  from  those 
parts  " ;  and  yet  it  would  have  been  very  much  easier  to 
have  come  from  Europe.  Bishop  Challoner  certainly  could 
not  have  been  aware  of  what  he  was  proposing,  when  the 
aged  and  infirm  Vicar-General,  Father  Hunter,  was  re- 
quested to  travel  all  the  way  from  Maryland  to  Quebec  — 
a  distance  of  fully  eight  hundred  miles.  It  took  nearly 
three  months,  at  a  time  when  the  intervening  country  was 
a  wilderness  inhabited  by  savages  and  wild  beasts  and  on 
the  verge  of  war,  to  obtain  what  could  have  been  provided 
for  at  home  by  the  stroke  of  a  pen.  It  serves,  however, 
to  show  how  devoted  was  the  service  of  these  priests  to 
their  Bishop  when,  at  his  mere  suggestion,  the  venerable 
man  immediately  proceeded  on  his  perilous  journey,  well 
knowing  that  the  attempt  would  be  futile.  Arrived  in 
Canada,  he  was  straightway  ordered  out  of  the  country 
by  Governor  Carleton,  who  would  not  tolerate  such  a  pro- 
posal. Some  years  later  the  same  request  was  officially 
forwarded  from  Rome  by  Cardinal  Castelli  with  the  same 
result. 

It  all  goes  to  show  how  correct  the  judgment  of  the 
Fathers  was  in  this  matter.  The  mere  sight  of  a  Catholic 
prelate  coming  from  a  people  who  were  detested  and  de- 
spised, and  with  whom  the  Colonies  were  always  at  war, 
and  whose  religion  was.  not  only  abhorred  but  held  to  be 
sanguinary  and  idolatrous,  would  have  been  infinitely  worse 
than  the  coming  of  Challoner  or  the  presence  of  an  Eng- 
lish vicar  apostolic. 


DELAY    OF   AMERICAN    HIERARCHY      87 

On  this  topic  we  have  a  most  valuable  letter  written 
by  Father  Farmer,  ten  years  after  the  event,  in  which  he 
gives  the  reasons  by  which  Bishop  Briand  convinced  the 
Pope  that  it  was  impossible  for  a  Canadian  bishop  to  enter 
the  American  Colonies.  Its  retrospective  character  vouches 
for  its  being  written  calmly  and  without  any  intention  of 
creating  sentiment.  The  reputation  of  the  writer,  more- 
over, would  be  a  sufficient  guarantee  in  that  matter,  and  it 
will  suffice  to  indicate  here  that  it  reiterates  what  we  have 
been  insisting  on,  namely,  that  the  bitter  hatred  of  the 
American  Colonists  for  even  the  name  of  bishop,  even 
though  he  were  only  of  the  Established  Church,  would 
have  given  rise  to  serious  public  disturbances  had  such  a 
thing  been  attempted  as  was  proposed  by  Bishop  Challoner. 
Thus  Bishop  Briand's  authority  is  seen  to  substantiate  this 
view  of  the  missionaries.  With  this  we  may  leave  this 
matter  of  Confirmation,  and  turn  to  another  view  of  the 
subject. 

Fourth.  There  was  nothing  abnormal  in  the  delay  of 
erecting  a  bishopric  here.  Thus  Quebec  was  founded  under 
the  auspices  of  a  Catholic  king  in  1608.  It  was  the  pet 
scheme  of  the  powerful  Richelieu.  It  had  an  extensive 
laity  of  chosen  and  exclusively  Catholic  Colonists.  The 
various  religious  Orders  and  the  established  secular  clergy 
were  all  represented  there.  Private  and  public  benefac- 
tions were  being  continually  showered  upon  it,  and  yet  it 
took  fifty  years  to  provide  it  with  a  bishop.  Champlain 
founded  it  in  1608,  and  only  in  1658  was  Laval  appointed. 
The  appointment  was  bitterly  opposed,  and  by  whom?  By 
the  Bishop  of  Rouen,  who  claimed  it  as  part  of  his  dio- 
cese. Not  only  did  he  set  his  face  against  the  nomination, 
but  he  sent  out  a  circular  to  the  bishops  of  France  to  assist 
him  in  the  opposition.  He  succeeded  in  enlisting  the  par- 
liaments of  Paris  and  Rouen  on  his  side,  and  was  strong 
enough  to  make  the  Bishop  of  Bayeux  withdraw  his 


88  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

promise  to  act  as  consecrator.  Laval  was  finally  conse- 
crated by  the  Papal  Nuncio,  behind  closed  doors,  at  an 
early  hour  of  the  morning  in  a  chapel  outside  of  the  juris- 
diction of  Paris  and  Rouen.  When  he  came  to  Quebec 
the  representative  ecclesiastics  refused  to  acknowledge  him, 
and  a  royal  edict  had  to  be  obtained  to  protect  him  in  his 
see.  The  storm  was  finally  allayed  by  the  influence  of  the 
Jesuits  of  Quebec. 

In  this  same  connection  it  is  in  order  to  remark  that 
Quebec  was  the  only  place  in  that  country  which  received 
a  bishop  until  our  own  days.  Why,  for  example,  was 
Montreal  not  made  a  see  long  ago?  It  was  a  splendid 
Catholic  colony,  almost  synchronous  in  its  establishment 
with  Quebec,  and  yet  even  some  of  us,  without  being  very 
old,  remember  its  first  bishop  —  Lartigue  was  appointed 
only  in  1836.  So  that  it  took  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
eight  years  to  obtain  two  bishoprics  for  a  country  that  was 
entirely  and  absolutely  Catholic  from  its  foundation  to  the 
present  day. 

Is  there  anything  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  poor, 
persecuted,  and  despised  outcasts  of  England,  Scotland, 
and  Ireland,  who  composed  the  main  body  of  our  Catholic 
Colonists,  many  of  whom,  according  to  Scharf,  were  bond 
servants  and  penal  convicts,  and  who  were  presided  over 
by  such  feeble  Catholics  as  the  Lords  Baltimore,  the  first 
of  whom  actually  forbade  them  to  discuss  their  religion 
on  the  way  over,  and  another  of  whom  was  an  apostate, 
should  be  slow  in  inaugurating  a  hierarchy  here? 

Fifth.  We  ought  not  to  forget  that  it  took  three  hun- 
dred years  to  effect  a  really  less  notable  change  in  what 
was  once  Catholic  England,  namely,  the  establishment  of 
the  hierarchy  there,  which  in  point  of  fact  was  little  else 
than  assigning  territories  to  bishops  already  on  the  prem- 
ises. Nor  should  we  forget  that  its  most  active  opponent 
was  a  great  dignitary  of  the  Church,  Cardinal  Acton.  We 


DELAY    OF   AMERICAN    HIERARCHY      89 

all  recall  the  storm  it  evoked  even  in  our  age  of  alleged 
liberality  and  enlightenment. 

But  the  difficulty  did  not  end  with  the  change  of  govern- 
ment. Not  only  was  it  absolutely  impossible  to  obtain  a 
resident  bishop  prior  to  the  Revolution,  but  it  appeared 
hopeless  for  some  time  subsequent  to  that  event.  The 
difficulty  affected  Protestants  as  well  as  Catholics.  Thus, 
in  1784,  Samuel  Seabury  was  commissioned  by  the  minis- 
ters of  Connecticut  to  go  to  England  to  be  consecrated 
first  Protestant  bishop  of  the  United  States.  He  was  the 
famous  rector  of  St.  Peter's  in  Westchester,  who  had  been 
so  conspicuous  for  his  Toryism  during  the  war,  and  who 
had,  in  consequence,  been  expelled  from  this  section  of  the 
country.  Nevertheless,  though  such  an  acceptable  person, 
when  he  arrived  in  England,  the  bench  of  bishops  refused 
to  consecrate  him.  Not  being  a  subject,  he  could  not  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  so  in  despair  he  addressed 
himself  to  the  long  disestablished  Church  of  Scotland. 
Three  Scotch  bishops  laid  hands  on  him,-  making  him 
promise  to  promote  the  ancient  liturgy,  which  Seabury  in- 
terpreted as  the  Scotch  prayer-book.  Hence,  if  we  are 
to  believe  the  Encyclopedia  of  American  Biography,  it 
resulted  in  making  the  Communion  Service  of  the  English 
prayer-book  in  this  country  Scotch  and  not  English.  In 
this  roundabout  fashion  the  Protestants  got  their  first 
bishop  in  the  United  States,  but  not  until  1784. 

There  seems  to  have  been  not  even  a  question  of  a 
Catholic  bishop  for  at  least  three  years  after  the  war  was 
over,  although  the  American  priests  were  petitioning  to 
have  some  one  among  them  empowered  to  bless  oils,  con- 
firm, etc.  In  1784  the  question  was  at  last  mooted,  but 
in  such  a  way  that  it  gave  rise  to  the  first  genuine  organ- 
ized opposition  to  the  appointment  of  a  bishop  in  the 
United  States  and  a  use  of  outside  influence  in  doing  so. 
But  instead  of  reflecting  discredit  upon  those  who  were 


90  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

conspicuous  in  it,  it  merits  for  them  the  gratitude  both 
of  their  Church  and  their  country. 

The  French  ambassador  at  Philadelphia  was  M.  Barbe 
Marbois.  He,  of  his  own  accord,  and  probably  to  ad- 
vance the  interests  of  some  ambitious  ecclesiastical  friend, 
began  negotiations  with  Benjamin  Franklin  and  the  Apos- 
tolic Nuncio  at  Paris  for  the  appointment  of  a  bishop 
for  the  United  States.  Marbois  was  the  individual  who 
had  maligned  all  the  Catholics  of  this  country,  clergy  and 
laity  alike,  by  saying  in  his  official  reports  that  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Jesuits  they  had  been  strong  adherents 
of  the  English  and  bitterly  averse  to  the  Revolution  —  a 
calumny  which  Bancroft  has  repeated;  whereas  the  truth 
is  that,  besides  the  very  active  and  notable  partisanship 
of  Carroll  and  others,  not  a  single  Jesuit,  native-born  or 
English,  was  known  to  be  other  than  in  favor  of  the  cause. 
If  we  needed  any  vindication  we  have  it  in  Washington's 
letter  to  the  Roman  Catholics,  in  which  this  passage 
occurs :  "  I  presume  that  your  fellow  citizens  will  not 
forget  the  patriotic  part  which  you  took  in  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  Revolution  and  the  establishment  of  your 
Government." 

We  prefer  the  testimony  of  Washington  to  that  of  either 
Bancroft  or  Marbois.  This  scheming  politician,  who  thus 
publicly  and  officially  endeavored  to  fix  the  stigma  of  dis- 
loyalty upon  his  fellow  Catholics  and  who,  according  to 
Shea,  reproached  the  Jesuits  of  this  country  with  not  favor- 
ing the  Voltairean  ideas  of  the  day,  urged  Benjamin 
Franklin,  who  was  then  ambassador  at  Paris,  to  secure  the 
nomination  of  a  French  subject  who  should  reside  in 
France,  and  administer  from  there  the  ecclesiastical  affairs 
of  the  United  States.  It  was  stipulated  that  he  was  to 
be  acceptable  to  Congress.  Franklin  took  up  the  scheme 
ardently,  communicated  it  to  the  American  Congress, 
which,  however,  threw  the  matter  out  as  not  of  its  con- 


DELAY    OF   AMERICAN    HIERARCHY      91 

cern,  and  probably  also  because  there  was  not  a  man  there 
who  had  any  other  feeling  than  that  of  dislike,  if  not  of 
hatred,  for  everything  connected  with  Catholicity. 

Consider  what  a  deplorable  condition  of  affairs  that 
was.  A  scheming,  self-seeking  French  politician,  avowedly 
an  admirer  of  Voltaire  and  an  enemy  and  calumniator  of 
American  Catholics,  was  in  union  with  a  deist  like  Franklin, 
asking  a  Congress  of  our  States,  which  had  almost  all  framed 
most  oppressive  laws  against  Catholics,  to  name  a  bishop 
acceptable  to  it  —  who  was  to  be  a  foreigner,  living  abroad 
under  a  foreign  king,  to  administer  from  France  the  ec- 
clesiastical affairs  of  this  country;  and,  what  is  most  amaz- 
ing (for  that,  too,  is  specified),  to  form  ecclesiastics  who 
should  be  acceptable  to  its  notions  of  ecclesiastical  fitness. 
It  appears  incredible  did  we  not  read  it  all  in  the  letters 
of  Franklin  to  the  Nuncio,  July  28,  1783;  the  Nuncio's 
acquiescence;  the  note  to  the  French  Prime  Minister, 
Vergennes,  the  i8th  of  December  of  the  same  year,  and 
the  proposal  to  Congress,  May,  1784. 

We  may  remark,  parenthetically,  that  all  this  goes  to 
show  that  the  opinion  held  by  Challoner  prevailed  else- 
where in  Europe,  namely,  that  there  was  no  one  here 
available  for  the  office  of  bishop,  as  the  Nuncio,  even  as 
late  as  1784,  implies.  It  evinces  a  strange  state  of  mind 
with  regard  to  men  like  Carroll,  Neale,  Lewis,  and  others, 
but  such  is  the  fact.  The  object  of  residing  in  France  is 
declared  to  be  that  the  bishop  might  be  always  at  hand 
to  constitute  a  sort  of  triple  alliance  with  his  Holiness 
and  the  American  minister  "  to  form  ecclesiastics  agreeable 
to  Congress." 

What  kind  of  a  power,  it  might  here  be  asked,  would 
Franklin  wield  in  the  Church,  and  what  kind  of  ecclesi- 
astics would  be  acceptable  to  our  bitterly  Protestant  Con- 
gress? This  is  surely  one  of  the  curiosities  of  history, 
and  it  is  clear  that  opposition  to  the  scheme  became  a  sacred 


92  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

duty.  The  English  dependency  would  have  been  infinitely 
preferable.  Father  Plowden  in  England  got  wind  of  it, 
and  in  union  with  Fathers  Mattingly  and  Sewall  of  Mary- 
land, all  members  of  the  suppressed  Society  of  Jesus, 
brought  their  influence  to  bear  on  Franklin,  who  did  not 
know  enough  of  Catholicity  to  be  aware  of  what  he  was 
doing.  He  was  made  to  see  the  foolishness,  not  to  say  the 
iniquity,  of  the  whole  proceeding,  and  finally  he  abandoned 
the  project  altogether.  Opposition  in  this  case  is  admitted 
to  have  taken  place,  but  no  reproach  is  feared  for  those  who 
took  part  in  it.  It  saved  the  country,  and  those  old,  pro- 
scribed Jesuits  must  have  the  credit  of  it. 

But  was  there  not  just  at  that  time,  in  1784,  a  resolu- 
tion adopted  by  the  Chapter  of  the  Fathers  of  Maryland, 
and  ordered  to  be  sent  to  Rome,  setting  forth  that  a  bishop 
was  not  yet  desirable?  There  was,  most  decidedly,  but 
it  was  a  minority  report  against  the  general  ruling  of  the 
Chapter  which  had,  on  the  contrary,  asked  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  bishop. 

Among  those  in  the  minority  was  the  future  Bishop 
Neale,  whose  motives  surely  cannot  well  be  questioned. 
Knowing  of  the  various  machinations  of  Marbois  to  get 
control  of  everything  ecclesiastical  here,  for  political  pur- 
poses, it  would  be  strange  indeed  if  some  among  them 
had  not  that  view.  They  must  have  been  aware  that 
other  plotters  were  at  work  just  as  well  as  Marbois.  That 
such  was  their  apprehension  is  explicitly  stated  by  Shea, 
and  their  forebodings  were  fully  verified  by  the  events. 
Those  who  know  how  the  scheme  of  Burke  and  two  other 
episcopal  appointments  might  have  brought  on  international 
complications;  how  mad  were  the  projects  of  Gallipolis, 
with  which  Professor  Herbermann  has  familiarized  us; 
how  supreme  a  folly  was  attempted  in  endeavoring  to  have 
a  Patriarchate  in  Oneida,  and  how  disastrous  were  the 
plans  that  were  concocted  and  carried  out,  as  in  Norfolk 


DELAY    OF   AMERICAN    HIERARCHY      93 

for  example,  not  to  mention  others,  will  certainly  agree 
with  those  wise  and  holy  men  that  God's  work  was  not 
to  be  helped  by  an  undue  haste  in  a  matter  of  such  grave 
importance. 

When  the  appointment  was  taken  out  of  every  one  else's 
hands,  and  the  Supreme  Pontiff  proprio  motu  appointed 
Carroll,  their  acceptance  was  instantaneous  and  complete. 
But  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  Carroll  received  then  only 
the  power  to  confirm.  It  took  five  years  more  to  make 
him  a  bishop,  and  that  was  done  only  after  repeated  peti- 
tions from  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  namely,  in  1789. 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  the  hierarchy  of  the  United 
States.  Slow  in  its  coming,  for  it  was  absolutely  unrealiz- 
able before  the  separation  from  England,  and  unrealizable 
for  some  time  after,  it  was  brought  about  finally  by  the  in- 
telligent zeal  and  devotion  which  prevented  servitude  and 
averted  disaster. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  t;o  remark  that 
in  the  Society  of  Jesus  there  are  certain  specific  rules  laid 
down  for  right  thinking.  They  are  more  properly  laws 
for  the  development  of  correct  instincts.  They  are  called 
Regultt  ad  sentiendum. 

The  first  of  those  rules  reads  as  follows :  "  Putting  aside 
all  judgment  of  our  own,  we  must  keep  the  mind  ready 
and  prompt  to  obey  in  all  things  the  true  Spouse  of  Christ, 
Our  Lord,  which  is  our  holy  Mother  the  Church  of  the 
Hierarchy:  Sancta  ecclesia  hierarchic  a."  This  expression 
ecclesia  hierarchica  is  peculiar  and  unusual. 

The  history  of  the  Society  has  been  the  fulfilment  of 
that  rule.  Always  eager  for  the  most  dangerous  and  diffi- 
cult missions,  leaving  the  imprint  of  their  labors  and  their 
blood  on  every  land  they  evangelized,  their  only  purpose 
has  ever  been  to  hand  it  over  to  the  hierarchy  of  God's 
holy  Church,  themselves  never  assuming  the  mitre  except 
under  compulsion,  and,  when  it  is  a  bishopric,  to  be 


94  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

through  glory  and  ignominy,  through  good  and  evil  report, 
through  labors  and  sufferings,  its  most  devoted  servants, 
its  staunchest  supporters,  and  its  most  fearless  champions, 
seeking  always  in  that,  as  in  all  things,  the  verification  of 
their  motto :  A d  majorem  Dei  gloriam. 


The  Dead  Nineteenth  Century 

Midnight  Mass,  St.  Francis  Xavier's  Church,  New  York,  December  31,  1899 

YOU  remember  that  scene  in  the  early  history  of 
our  country  when  Balboa,  before  Cortez,  stood 
silent' upon  a  peak  of  Darien  looking  out  upon 
the  Pacific,  whose  broad  expanse  then  for  the  first  time 
met  his  gaze.  The  grim  old  warrior  felt  his  heart  leap 
with  joy  as  he  saw  before  him  in  imagination  the  vast 
regions  over  which  the  banner  which  he  held  in  his 
grasp  was  to  wave  for  the  advancement  of  Christianity 
and  civilization.  Cortez  had  not  come  yet,  nor  Pizarro, 
and  so  on  the  right  and  on  the  left  of  him  was  the  great 
hemisphere,  almost  all  of  which  was  to  be  won  for  his 
country,  and  beyond  the  far  horizon  who  could  tell  what 
regions  rich  in  gold  and  precious  stones  stretched  more 
boundless  still?  Out  there  upon  that  mountain  peak,  on 
the  frontiers  of  the  habitable  globe,  that  heroic  man,  with 
his  handful  of  followers,  represented  a  nation,  with  all 
its  traditions  of  the  past  and  all  its  expectations  of  the 
future  —  a  nation  that  for  eight  long  centuries  had  stood 
as  the  bulwark  of  the  civilization  of  Europe  and  saved  it 
from  being  what  Africa  is  to-day;  that  had  just  driven 
the  implacable  enemies  of  Christianity  back  over  the  Straits 
of  Gibraltar  and  shattered  their  fleets  at  the  other  end 
of  the  Mediterranean;  that  had  leaped  at  a  bound  into 
the  forefront  of  the  nations;  first  in  civil  liberty,  first  in 
the  power  of  its  armies,  first  in  the  extent  of  its  commerce 
and  the  cultivation  of  the  mechanical  arts,  and  first  in  that 
enlightenment  that  promoted  its  sovereigns  to  aid  the  dis- 
coverer of  the  New  World.  He  descended  the  mountain 
side  and,  flag  in  hand,  entered  into  the  sea  and  took  pos- 


96  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

session  of  it  in  the  name  of  God  and  his  King.  It  was  a 
memorable  moment  in  the  onward  movement  of  the  nations. 

But  to-night  the  whole  world  contemplates  a  scene  still 
more  solemn,  significant,  and  sublime. 

Silent  upon  the  summit  of  spiritual,  yea,  of  earthly 
grandeur,  though  shorn  of  all  his  temporal  power,  at  the 
culmination  of  the  century,  in  his  own  city  that  has  been 
for  more  than  two  thousand  years  the  expression  and 
the  symbol  of  grandeur,  magnificence,  and  power,  stands 
not  a  mailed  warrior,  but  an  aged,  white-robed  priest,  one 
whose  unusually  protracted  life  is  disappearing  in  the  glory 
of  eternity,  whose  attenuated  and  almost  luminous  face, 
with  the  snows  of  almost  a  hundred  years  resting  like  a 
halo  upon  his  pallid  brows,  makes  him  seem  like  some  dis- 
embodied spirit  on  the  heights  as  he  bends  his  searching 
glance  upon  the  future  and  gazes  out  upon  the  new  century 
whose  incoming  waves  are  beating  upon  the  shores  beneath 
his  feet.  Back  of  him  is  the  century  that  is  fading  away, 
not  into  the  azure,  but  into  the  dark  and  stormy  cloud- 
lands  of  the  past. 

What  thoughts  are  in  his  mind  in  the  retrospect  of  these 
one  hundred  years,  with  almost  every  one  of  which  he  is 
identified!  The  century  of  progress,  if  you  will,  of  com- 
merce, of  boundless  wealth,  of  marvellous  discoveries,  but 
at  the  same  time  of  regicides  and  revolutions,  of  religious 
decay,  and,  in  spite  of  our  boasting,  of  moral  deterioration, 
of  national  disintegration  foreboded  in  the  great  forces 
that  are  struggling  for  the  supremacy  of  the  masses  and 
preparing  international  wars  which  may  at  any  moment 
begin  through  lust  of  empire  and  un-Christian  race  hatred ; 
the  century  that  was  hailed  as  the  great  era  of  enlighten- 
ment and  destined  for  the  elevation  of  humanity,  but  which 
ends  with  a  cry  of  despair  from  the  lips  of  the  philosophers 
who  have  received  most  of  the  world's  applause.  But  in 
spite  of  it  all  there  is  a  light  flashing  through  the  clouds 


THE    DEAD    NINETEENTH    CENTURY     97 

from  the  splendid  triumphs  of  the  Church  in  the  battle 
for  God,  and  the  promises  of  a  still  more  luminous  dawn 
breaking  from  the  horizon  of  time  toward  which  his  gaze 
is  directed. 

When  the  year  of  the  Lord  1801  began  —  but  wait  — 
there  was  no  year  of  the  Lord  1801.  Wherever  the  influ- 
ence of  the  terrible  revolution  extended,  and  that  was 
through  almost  all  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  from 
Egypt  to  Santo  Domingo  and  Louisiana,  the  computation 
of  time  from  the  birth  of  Christ  had  been  abolished;  malig- 
nant hatred  of  Christ  had  expunged  the  chronology  of 
eighteen  hundred  years,  and  the  tenth  of  the  month  of 
Vivose  in  the  eighth  year  of  the  Republic  was  made  the 
beginning  of  the  century.  Religion  was  dead  or  on  the 
point  of  expiring.  There  was  no  Sunday,  there  was  no  re- 
ligious worship.  For  eight  months  there  had  not  been  even 
a  Pope,  and  the  boast  was  made  that  there  never  would 
be  another.  Pius  VI  died  a  martyr  in  August,  1799,  and 
until  March,  1800,  violence  and  intrigue  prevented  his 
successor  from  being  elected.  The  terrible  revolution  had 
engulfed  religion  in  its  deluge  of  blood  and  fire.  All  that 
was  noblest  and  purest  had  been  ruthlessly  butchered;  sixty 
thousand  priests  had  either  laid  down  their  lives  on  the 
guillotine  or  had  been  scattered  as  wanderers  over  the 
earth,  and  the  vast  multitudes  of  religious  men  and  women 
had  shared  the  same  fate.  The  sanctuaries  of  the  Living 
God  had  been  made  scenes  of  the  most  indecent  orgies; 
the  great  foundations  for  charity,  piety,  and  education  that 
had  been  held  in  trust  for  centuries  were  plundered;  the 
schools  were  empty  or  in  the  hands  of  atheists  and 
blasphemers. 

The  fires  of  persecution  in  consequence  of  the  uprising 
of  '98  in  Ireland  were  still  smouldering.  The  penal  laws 
of  England,  Holland,  and  Sweden  were  still  in  force. 
Russia  was  still  carrying  out  her  rule  of  ruthless  spoliation 


98  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

and  death.  What  was  once  Catholic  Austria  was  doing 
its  best  to  destroy  the  faith.  Spain  and  Portugal  were  in 
the  hands  of  atheists,  and  the  great  missions  to  heathen 
nations  which  had  been  founded  in  the  blood  of  countless 
martyrs  had  been  abolished,  and  the  forsaken  tribes  had 
lapsed  again  into  their  former  savagery.  As  in  the  reli- 
gious, so  in  the  political  world.  The  battle  fires  of  Napo- 
leon were  lighting  the  world  with  their  glare;  crowns  and 
coronets  and  sceptres  were  tossed  about  like  playthings. 
The  invasions  of  England  and  Russia  were  planned,  and 
the  conqueror  stood  for  the  moment  with  his  heel  on  the 
neck  of  the  nations.  So  it  was  for  the  Church.  He  had 
granted  it  a  brief  respite  of  life  only  to  throw  upon  it  the 
chain  of  his  Concordat,  as  galling  as  the  former  persecu- 
tions had  been  bloody.  It  was  slavery  instead  of  death. 
Who  was  to  deliver  the  world  from  the  yoke?  Not  the 
kings  and  princes  who  were  cringing  before  him,  giving 
up  their  kingdoms  or  delivering  their  daughters  to  him  or 
to  his  brothers  in  adulterous  or  other  marriages.  There 
was  only  one  power  that  could  do  it,  as  the  great  war 
minister  of  England  Pitt  had  declared,  and  that  was  the 
trembling  Monk  into  whose  hands  the  staff  of  the  chief 
pastor  had  been  thrust. 

Pius  VII  alone  defied  him.  In  spite  of  flattery,  threats, 
abuse,  bodily  injury,  exile,  and  imprisonment,  he  hurled 
his  anathema  at  the  tyrant  when  all  other  means  had  failed; 
a  pebble  from  the  sling  of  David,  but  it  brought  down  the 
enemy  of  God.  "  Will  his  anathema  make  the  arms  fall 
from  the  hands  of  my  soldiers?  "  he  scoffingly  asked.  In 
the  light  of  burning  Moscow  he  saw  them  drop  in  the 
snows  of  Russia  and  he  was  flung  a  prisoner  on  the  Rock 
of  Elba  when  Pius  VII  entered  Rome  as  the  deliverer  of 
Europe  and  the  kings  and  princes  resumed  their  ancient 
thrones.  Monasticism,  so  much  scoffed  at  by  the  world, 
had  saved  the  world  from  slavery. 


THE    DEAD    NINETEENTH    CENTURY     99 

Did  the  world  acknowledge  it?  No,  the  nations  never 
acknowledge  what  the  Church  does  for  them,  and  they 
help  it  only  for  interested  motives. 

In  the  congress  of  the  kings  at  Vienna  their  first  act  was 
to  hand  over  to  schismatical  Russia  eight  million  Catholic 
Poles  and  five  million  Catholic  Ruthenians,  who  were  lost 
forever  to  the  Church,  as  were  two  millions  more  who  were 
allotted  to  Prussia.  Robbed  of  fifteen  million  souls  for 
having  saved  Europe  from  destruction!  Besides  that,  not 
only  the  great  kings  but  each  little  princeling  thought  it 
the  acme  of  diplomacy  to  thwart  the  Church  in  every  one 
of  her  movements,  and  with  a  fatuity  that  is  incredible 
after  the  lesson  they  had  received,  resumed  in  their  manner 
of  governing  the  same  autocratic  absolutism  that  had  caused 
the  revolution,  and  then,  to  insure  their  hold  upon  the 
people,  they  inaugurated  that  ubiquitous  system  of  police 
which  is  such  a  tyranny  yet  in  Europe,  and  was  the 
immediate  cause  of  the  formation  of  the  revolutionary 
secret  societies,  that  were  so  soon  to  involve  the  nations 
in  new  disaster.  At  that  time  also  the  dreadful  system 
of  German  Pantheism  under  Hegel  and  Fichte  and  Schelling 
was  taught,  whose  only  purpose  was  to  do  away  with 
Christianity,  and  whose  only  result  was  to  produce  a  dep- 
ravation of  morals  in  Germany  and  the  rest  of  the  world. 
The  scoffings  at  Christ  which  are  heard  in  what  are  alleged 
to  be  Christian  pulpits,  and  the  immorality  that  necessarily 
follows  are  a  consequence  of  those  teachings  of  the  early 
part  of  the  century. 

Meantime,  hampered  though  she  was,  the  Church  began 
to  rebuild  her  desolated  sanctuaries,  to  recall  her  religious 
orders,  to  re-establish  her  hierarchies,  to  reorganize  her 
missions,  to  open  her  schools,  and  before  the  next  storm 
burst  upon  her  she  saw  those  splendid  figures  arise  from 
the  gloom,  some  of  them  converts  to  the  faith  —  not 
clergymen  but  laymen,  like  Gorres  and  Schlegel  and  Stol- 


ioo  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

berg,  who  led  the  indignant  Catholics  of  Prussia  in  their 
first  legal  and  united  opposition  to  unjust  government  legis- 
lation. In  France  there  were  Montalembert  and  Ozanam, 
Chateaubriand  and  De  Maistre  and  De  Bonald,  statesmen 
and  jurists  and  philosophers  whose  lives  were  devoted  to 
the  cause  of  the  Church;  and,  in  the  very  citadel  of  heresy 
in  England,  the  great  movement  was  begun  which  gave 
to  the  Church  and  to  the  world  such  glorious  men  as 
Newman,  Faber,  and  Allies  and  Wilberforce,  the  pio- 
neers of  the  long  line  of  illustrious  men  who  have  followed 
the  kindly  light  that  led  them  home.  But  above  all  there 
appeared  before  the  world  one  who  was  without  a  doubt 
the  grandest  man  of  all  this  century;  the  man  who,  when 
dead,  sent  his  heart  to  be  enshrined  in  Rome,  and  who 
was  a  patriot  precisely  because  every  throb  of  that  living 
heart  beat  in  unison  with  Rome;  the  man  who  came  from 
the  Niobe  of  nations,  who  alone  and  unaided  struck  from 
her  prostrate  form  the  blood-stained  shackles  in  which  she 
had  languished  for  centuries,  who  lifted  up  unhappy  Ire- 
land into  the  ranks  of  humanity,  and  compelled  her  enemy 
to  admit  that  fidelity  to  Jesus  Christ  was  not  a  crime  — 
that  man,  O'Connell,  added  his  glory  to  the  first  third  of 
the  century  and  gave  to  the  Church  by  Catholic  emanci- 
pation the  greatest  consolation  she  had  received  for  a 
hundred  years. 

But  meantime  the  secret  societies,  bad  philosophy,  and 
immoral  literature  had  been  sapping  the  bases  of  the  na- 
tions. By  1830  all  the  world  was  in  revolution.  Spain 
had  already  lost  most  of  her  great  colonial  possessions, 
the  last  vestige  of  which  was  shot  away  by  the  guns  of 
Schley  in  Santiago  and  Dewey  in  Manila  Bay  just  as  the 
century  was  drawing  to  a  close.  In  France,  Italy,  Portu- 
gal, Spain,  in  far-off  Greece,  where  twenty  thousand  Chris- 
tians were  slain  and  forty-seven  thousand  sold  into  captiv- 
ity for  an  offence  in  which  they  had  >no  share;  in  Poland, 


THE    DEAD    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  101 

the  uprising  ended  only  in  greater  atrocities  from  the  Rus- 
sian Government;  and  even  in  Canada,  as  if  by  a  mutual 
understanding,  the  word  was  given  to  break  the  power  of 
kings  forever.  France  alone  succumbed,  it  is  true,  and  got 
its  constitutional  monarchy  by  the  treachery  of  one  of  its 
own  princes,  but  eighteen  years  later,  in  the  ever  memorable 
'48,  the  revolution  was  irresistible,  and  to-day  with  the 
exception  of  Russia  there  is  not  a  government  which  can 
dare  pretend  to  the  exercise  of  that  absolute  power  with 
which  they  so  often  used  to  scourge  mankind.  The  con- 
stitutional monarchies  of  to-day  are  but  republics  with 
some  vestiges  of  royalty  left  in  them  to  conceal  their 
reproach. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  last  half  of  the  century  a  new 
era  dawned.  In  1850  Pius  IX  returned  to  Rome.  The 
hierarchies  were  re-established  in  Holland  and  England, 
the  event  almost  shaking  the  latter  country  to  its  founda- 
tions. The  thirty  thousand  Catholics  of  America  had 
grown  into  millions.  Great  churches  extended  their  sway 
in  Australia,  India,  and  China.  The  old  religious  orders 
renewed  their  energy  in  the  missions,  and  younger  congre- 
gations vied  with  them  in  zeal  and  in  the  results  achieved. 
Schools  and  hospitals  and  asylums  sprang  up  everywhere, 
and  in  the  frequent  canonizations  of  multitudes  of  her  most 
illustrious  children  the  Church  held  up  to  the  world  for 
inspiration  and  for  affirmation  her  ideals  of  moral  grandeur. 
Meantime,  while  the  nations  were  convulsed  by  wars  and 
revolutions,  while  Europe  was  in  a  death  struggle  in  the 
Crimea,  while  our  own  dreadful  civil  war  was  raging,  while 
Austria  and  France  and  Prussia  were  in  mortal  conflict, 
while  kings  were  being  assassinated  and  new  forms  of 
government  introduced,  through  it  all  the  Sovereign  Pon- 
tiff was  constantly  and  patiently  giving  to  the  world,  whether 
it  heeded  or  not,  those  warnings  of  the  dangers  of  philo- 
sophical or  political  or  moral  teachings  which  were  the 


102  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

source  and  spring  of  all  these  disorders;  the  syllabus  or 
resume  of  which  will  be  consulted  by  future  students  as 
the  most  perfect  sociological  history  of  our  times,  and  per- 
haps as  a  warning  to  future  generations  to  avoid  the 
abysses  into  which  the  past  had  fallen. 

It  was  then  that  another  glory  was  added  to  the  century 
by  the  declaration  of  the  prerogative  of  the  Mother  of 
Jesus  Christ  in  the  dogma  of  the  Immaculate  Conception, 
and  finally  there  assembled  in  Rome  one  of  the  most  splen- 
did and  impressive  Councils  of  the  Church  that  had  ever 
convened  since  the  Apostles  met  at  their  first  Pentecost. 
In  spite  of  the  opposition  of  governments,  seven  hundred 
bishops  and  archbishops  from  every  part  of  the  habitable 
globe,  representing  every  race  and  nationality  under  the 
sun,  and  every  class  of  society  from  the  lowest  to  the 
highest,  uniting  in  their  persons  all  the  past  centuries  back 
to  the  time  when  the  Apostles  went  out  with  their  message 
to  the  world,  there  were  seen  men  whose  personalities  were 
the  highest  expression  of  sanctity  and  learning,  all,  at  the 
mere  intimation  of  the  wish  of  the  Supreme  Shepherd, 
hastening  to  the  Eternal  City,  and  giving  to  the  disordered 
nations  the  astounding  spectacle  of  a  world-embracing  union 
in  perfect  harmony  of  doctrine  and  government,  animated 
by  the  single  purpose  of  bringing  peace  and  light  to  hu- 
manity, and  daring  to  tell  the  world  what  to  do  and  what 
to  believe.  But  their  message  was  not  accepted.  Glad- 
stone flung  his  anathemas  at  it,  and  there  began  immedi- 
ately that  terrible  persecution  inaugurated  by  Bismarck,  the 
man  of  blood  and  iron,  fresh  from  his  great  victory  at 
Sedan,  who  closed  the  churches  and  schools  of  Germany, 
banished  the  bishops  and  priests,  or  cast  them  into  jails, 
and  by  every  possible  device  endeavored  to  destroy  the 
last  vestige  of  Catholicity  in  the  new  Empire  he  had 
founded.  Like  all  other  trials  of  the  Church,  it  ended 
only  in  good.  It  called  into  existence  the  great  Centre 


THE    DEAD    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  103 

Party  which  sent  Bismarck  to  Canossa  to  plead  for  recon- 
ciliation with  the  Pope.  It  created  the  great  conservative 
element  on  which  the  Emperor  leans  in  the  dangers  which 
are  now  threatening  not  only  his  Empire  but  the  peace 
of  Europe,  and  it  pointed  the  way  to  Catholics  all  the 
world  over  for  righteous  and  lawful  resistance  against 
oppression.  When  Bismarck  was  flung  aside  as  a  useless 
thing  by  the  new  War  Lord,  another  danger  succeeded; 
for,  disguise  the  fact  as  we  may,  the  spirit  of  democracy 
is  sweeping  over  the  world,  and  though  safe  enough  when 
properly  guided,  yet  under  the  guise  of  socialism  or  anarchy 
forms  the  greatest  menace  that  has  yet  confronted  the 
world,  and  with  that  problem  before  us  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury begins.  Who  is  to  meet  it?  Who  is  to  prevent  it 
from  leaping  its  bounds  and  bringing  disaster  everywhere 
upon  civilization?  Not  the  great  fleets  that  bear  on  their 
decks  such  terrible  instruments  of  destruction,  not  the  for- 
midable armies  that  cover  the  face  of  the  globe.  They 
will  only  accelerate  the  doom  of  the  powers  if  the  people 
are  not  instructed  and  controlled,  just  as  the  armies  of 
Rome  in  its  decay  decided  the  fate  of  the  Empire.  There 
is  only  one  power  that  can  properly  control  the  giant  that 
is  now  arising  in  her  might.  Papa  et  popidus,  said  Greg- 
ory VII  centuries  ago  when  the  tyranny  and  rapacity  of 
the  German  Emperors  were  bringing  ruin  'upon  the  world. 
The  Pope  and  the  people.  They  understand  each  other. 
For  in  spite  of  its  monarchical  organization  and  power, 
and  in  spite  of  its  subjection  to  one  supreme  sovereign 
who  controls  the  consciences  of  men  and  nations,  the  Church 
is  democratic  in  the  fact  that  it  speaks  alike  to  king  and 
peasant,  bears  the  same  message  to  both,  is  as  tender  to 
one  as  to  the  other,  and  will  oppose  the  aggression  of 
either  with  the  same  fortitude  and  the  same  insistency. 
There  is  no  dignity  in  the  Church  that  is  barred  against 
the  humblest;  a  swineherd  has  been  Pontiff  and  a  great 


io4  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

one;  its  clergy  are  from  the  great  body  of  the  people,  and 
in  times  of  trial  have  shared  their  sufferings  and  guided 
their  aspirations.  Hence  it  is  that  the  great  danger  that 
comes  from  a  misguided  and  misunderstood  democracy  can 
be  averted  only  by  the  Catholic  Church.  The  world  dimly 
recognizes  it,  for  the  utterances  of  that  remarkable  Pontiff 
whom  the  whole  world,  Catholic  and  infidel  alike,  now 
looks  up  to  with  admiration  are  accepted  as  messages  of 
salvation  in  the  great  social  questions  which  are  at  present 
agitating  the  world. 

Such  is  the  remarkable  condition  that  presents  itself  at 
the  end  of  a  century  which  began  in  such  disaster.  The 
greatest  man  of  the  world  at  the  present  time,  the  one 
who  fills  the  largest  space  in  the  world's  regard,  is  un- 
doubtedly Leo  XIII.  Bismarck  is  dead;  Gladstone  is 
dead;  Victor  Emmanuel  and  his  successors  are  dead; 
Napoleon  died  under  the  knife  in  an  obscure  village  of 
England  when  his  Empire  was  destroyed;  his  fellow  con- 
spirators are  dead;  the  whole  phalanx  of  enemies  who 
plotted  against  the  Church  are  dead.  He  lives.  The  face 
of  Europe  is  all  changed,  empires  have  fallen  and  king- 
doms are  shorn  of  their  strength,  and  yet  that  wonderful 
man  who  represents  God  reigns,  and  wields  an  astonishing 
power  over  the  whole  human  race. 

We  have  seen  how  paralyzed  and  almost  dead  the 
Church  seemed  at  the  beginning  of  the  century.  Now 
behold  it,  in  spite  of  the  millions  that  it  has  lost  by  political 
spoliation  and  persecution,  twenty  millions  stronger  than  it 
was  in  the  beginning  of  the  century,  and  if  we  consider 
the  loss  through  legislation  in  Russia  and  Prussia  alone,  not 
to  speak  of  unnoticed  defections  which  have  affected  it 
elsewhere,  the  Catholic  Church  counts  an  increase  of  no 
less  than  forty  or  fifty  million  souls  over  what  it  had  one 
hundred  years  ago. 

There  are  splendid  hierarchies  in  every  part  of  the  world, 


THE    DEAD    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  105 

and  in  the  ranks  of  the  episcopacy  many  who  are  remark- 
able for  sanctity  and  learning.  Here  in  America  alone, 
where  the  century  opened  with  thirty  thousand  Catholics 
under  a  single  bishop,  we  have  a  Church  of  twelve  or 
fourteen  millions,  with  a  Cardinal  and  eighty-four  bishops 
to  guide  its  destinies.  There  are  hierarchical  churches  in 
Asia  whose  progress  is  more  marvellous  every  day;  and 
the  same  is  true  in  Africa,  in  distant  Australia,  and  in  the 
islands  of  the  Pacific.  There  are  vast  works  of  charity 
in  every  country  of  the  globe  for  every  human  ailment 
or  sorrow;  hospitals,  asylums,  orphanages,  schools  and  col- 
leges and  great  universities,  all  built  and  directed  and  sup- 
ported in  the  face  of  incredible  opposition.  Thousands 
of  martyrs  in  China  are  willingly  pouring  out  their  blood 
in  testimony  of  their  faith.  Converts  are  coming  into  the 
Church  by  thousands  in  England  alone,  where  the  Church 
has  suffered  so  much  during  these  three  hundred  years. 
Denmark  and  Sweden  and  Norway  have  opened  their  doors 
to  the  Church,  and  what  is  consoling  above  all  is  that  the 
well-springs  of  the  missions  and  missionary  life  have  been 
opened  again.  There  are  missionary  colleges  in  almost 
every  Catholic  nation,  and  France  alone  has  at  the  present 
moment  nearly  sixty  thousand  missionaries  preaching  to  the 
heathens.  As  in  the  Crusades  of  old,  France  first  took  up 
the  cry  "  God  wills  it,"  and  sent  her  thousands  to  battle 
for  the  cross,  so  to-day  she  is  repeating  the  cry  and  sending 
out  her  hosts  to  win  the  nations  to  God.  She  alone,  since 
1822,  has  expended  no  less  than  sixty  million  dollars  for 
the  support  of  these  soldiers  of  the  cross.  What  an  an- 
swer this  is  from  the  Catholic  heart  of  France  to  those 
who  boasted  a  hundred  years  ago  that  Catholicity  was 
dead  in  the  soul  of  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  Church!  We 
can  trust  that  in  the  storm  that  is  hanging  above  her 
to-day  she  will  win  still  greater  glory  in  the  cause  of  God. 
Is  it  not  true,  therefore,  that  the  venerable  Leo  can  look 


io6  VARIOUS   DISCOURSES 

out  on  the  twentieth  century  with  confidence  and  hope? 
"  Make  it,"  he  tells  us,  "  the  century  of  Christ."  The 
stamp  is  already  on  it;  it  is  the  year  of  the  Lord  1901, 
for  there  is  nothing  more  prominent,  nothing  more  visible, 
nothing  more  powerful  in  the  world  to-day,  though  the 
Pontiff  has  neither  fleets  nor  armies,  than  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Eternal  Son  of  the  Living  God.  Let  that 
religion,  the  Pontiff  tells  the  world,  vivify  your  business, 
your  homes,  your  schools,  your  great  social  parliaments, 
your  politics,  and  your  diplomacy.  Behold  what  calamities 
the  exaggerated  devotion  of  the  dead  century  to  the  rights 
of  man  has  brought  upon  you.  Let  the  twentieth  century 
be  conspicuous  for  its  respect  for  the  rights  of  God,  for 
His  law  and  truth,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
Church,  which  arose  from  such  disasters  and  achieved  such 
power  for  the  welfare  and  peace  of  the  world,  will  advance 
to  a  degree  that  will  almost  defy  calculation  in  the  cen- 
tury that  is  now  begun,  in  winning  the  souls  of  men.  As 
she  has  met  every  danger  within  and  without  from  the 
time  she  first  faced  the  persecuting  Caesar,  and  felt  the 
first  shudder  from  immorality  and  heresy  and  schism,  so 
she  alone  can  meet  and  conquer  every  opponent,  be  it  the 
monarch  or  the  mob;  she  alone  can  teach  men  the  truth 
and  save  them  from  the  oppression  of  their  own  vices 
or  the  tyranny  of  their  fellow-men.  She  alone  can  wrestle 
with  the  great  dangers  that  are  coming  in  with  the  century. 
She  alone  can  give  the  people  liberty,  peace,  and  truth. 


Jesuit  Education 

Alumni  Banquet  of  St  John's  College,  Fordham,  New  York,  April  16,  1900 

WHEN  a  statement  was  made  some  time  ago 
by  the  President  of  Harvard  University  reflect- 
ing harshly  on  our  methods  of  education,  con- 
siderable alarm  was  manifested  among  our  alumni,  and 
there  was  an  urgent  request  for  a  reply.     The  reply  has 
been  made,  and  the  result  is  all  that  could  be  desired. 

A  writer,  who  is  said  to  be  no  other  than  a  distinguished 
representative  of  Columbia,  declares  that  for  a  month  or 
so  educators  everywhere  have  been  talking  of  it.  "  And 
well  they  may,"  he  says,  "  for  it  is  one  of  the  neatest  bits 
of  controversial  literature  that  we  have  seen  in  a  long, 
long  time.  It  is  a  model  of  courtesy  and  urbanity;  its 
style  is  as  clear  as  crystal,  its  logic  is  faultless,  and  finally, 
its  quotations,  illustrations,  and  turns  of  phrase  are  apt, 
piquant,  and  singularly  effective.  We  hope,"  he  adds, 
"that  President  Eliot  has  been  reading  it  over  very  thought- 
fully himself,  and  as  it  would  probably  never  reach  him 
from  Harvard  sources,  we  may  gently  convey  to  him  the 
information  that  throughout  the  entire  country  educators 
and  men  and  women  of  cultivation  generally  are  immensely 
amused  at  the  cleverness  with  which  his  alleged  facts  and 
iridescent  theories  have  been  turned  into  a  joke." 

Of  course,  for  a  time  we  had  to  assume  an  attitude  of 
profound  humility.  We  were  branded  before  the  world 
with  professional  inferiority;  we  wore  the  badge  of  in- 
competency  as  teachers  of  the  furiously  studious  youth  of 
this  country  in  the  elements  of  science  and  the  classics,  and 
were  tagged  with  inability  to  fit  them  for  admission  to 
institutions  whose  requirements  were  almost  nothing.  But 


io8  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

we  were  not  worried  about  it.  Much  worse  had  been  said 
before,  and  we  still  live  and  move  and  have  our  being. 
At  the  very  time  that  we  were  placarded  in  every  news- 
paper in  the  land  as  defectives,  a  review  of  a  book  was 
also  published  in  which  Ignatius  of  Loyola  was  represented 
as  seated  on  a  lofty  throne  with  his  Satanic  Majesty  in 
hell,  while  the  Jesuit  Satellites  around,  with  their  usual 
perfervid  zeal,  were  dragging  multitudes  into  those  dismal 
domains.  It  is  the  old,  old  story  that  is  told  again,  and 
is  one  of  the  grim  pleasantries  with  which  our  enemies 
are  wont  to  divert  themselves. 

Inability  to  teach  the  classics!  Why,  the  language  of 
the  greater  part  of  the  classics  is  our  mother  tongue.  We 
use  it  at  table,  we  employ  it  in  conversation,  we  write  our 
letters  in  it;  it  is  our  official  medium  for  the  transaction 
of  business,  and  its  form  and  phrasing  are  not  in  that 
barbarous  structure  in  which  it  issues  from  certain  estab- 
lishments of  learning,  but  in  the  correctness  and  elegance 
that  would  have  characterized  Cicero's  utterances  in  the 
glorious  days  of  the  Roman  forum.  The  classics  are  our 
possession,  and  they  were  as  truly  saved  by  us  from  de- 
struction amid  the  disorders  consequent  upon  the  Protestant 
Reformation  as  they  had  been  by  the  monks  in  the  dark- 
ness of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  world  is  in  debt  to  us  on 
that  score,  especially  our  modern  educators;  for  it  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that,  while  giving  in  their  monumental 
works  on  the  ancient  languages  a  sufficient  answer  to  the 
reproach  of  inferiority,  the  writers  of  the  Society  were 
at  the  same  time  amassing  treasures  of  linguistic  learning 
which  made  the  reputations  of  subsequent  writers  as  easy 
as  they  were  undeserved.  The  names  of  Alvarez,  Tor- 
sellino,  Castro,  Montanus,  De  la  Cerda,  representing  a 
whole  host  of  profound  scholars  who  devoted  themselves 
to  the  work  of  grammar  and  lexicography,  are  brilliant 
enough  to  bring  ridicule  upon  accusations  which  belittle  the 


JESUIT  EDUCATION  109 

association  to  which  such  writers  belong  and  whose  glory 
they  enhanced. 

Nor  was  it  with  Latin  or  Greek  alone  that  they  occu- 
pied themselves.  They  revived  the  study  of  Hebrew;  they 
were  among  the  first  to  begin  researches  in  Egyptology; 
with  Kir.cher  they  deciphered  the  hieroglyphics  of  Coptic; 
with  De  Nobili  and  others  they  introduced  the  study  of 
Sanscrit  and  Teleuga  and  Tamil,  the  classic  epic  in  the 
latter  language  being  the  work  of  a  Jesuit  missionary; 
they  taught  modern  Greek  and  Illyrian  and  Turkish;  they 
built  up  the  old  Etruscan;  they  traced  the  laws  of  language 
for  China  and  Japan;  they  constructed  grammars  for  the 
Bretons  and  Basques  and  Hungarians;  they  compiled  lexi- 
cons of  the  tongues  of  the  savages  of  every  country,  from 
the  African  deserts  to  the  slopes  of  the  Pacific.  Through 
this  vast  country  of  ours,  from  Canada  down  through 
Mexico  and  Brazil  and  Chili  and  Peru  and  Paraguay,  the 
first  care  of  the  missionary,  while  imparting  the  truths 
of  salvation,  was  to  systematize  the  barbarous  idiom  and 
trace  its  construction  and  order  and  make  it  a  coherent 
medium  of  human  speech;  and  they  are  doing  it  now  for 
the  remnants  of  the  tribes  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and 
the  scattered  savages  of  frozen  Alaska.  Before  this  cen- 
tury opened,  there  were  more  than  three  hundred  of  these 
lexicons,  written  amid  unimaginable  hardships  and  priva- 
tions, in  Indian  wigwams  or  the  depths  of  the  forest,  and 
they  are  regarded  as  precious  treasures  by  the  libraries 
that  possess  them. 

It  was  this  Society  that  gave  a  splendid  system  of  na- 
tional schools  to  all  the  countries  of  Europe,  and  by  inter- 
changing professors  of  various  nationalities,  anticipated 
with  success  the  feeble  gropings  of  the  educators  of  to-day 
for  an  international  university.  When  its  enemies  com- 
passed its  downfall,  it  controlled  six  hundred  and  seventy 
colleges  and  twenty-four  universities.  They  were  com- 


no  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

mended  with  special  emphasis  by  one  of  the  greatest  coun- 
cils of  the  Church  that  was  ever  convened,  and  their  bit- 
terest enemies  did  not  refuse  their  meed  of  praise.  Scholars 
came  to  them  in  multitudes,  and  in  one  college,  that  of 
Louis  le  Grand,  there  were  no  less  than  three  thousand 
students,  and  the  kings  of  England  and  of  France  sat 
side  by  side  at  its  academic  exhibitions.  One  single  pro- 
fessor there  counted  nineteen  of  his  scholars  who  were 
elected  to  the  French  Academy,  and  the  famous  Piron  could 
say  of  the  college  that  "  it  was  the  star-chamber  of  literary 
reputations."  Its  decisions  determined  the  status  of  the 
nation's  writers  at  a  time  when  Corneille  and  Moliere  and 
Racine  and  Bossuet  and  Fenelon  and  the  most  brilliant 
galaxy  of  writers  that  France  has  ever  known  were  shed- 
ding their  lustre  on  the  world.  We  have  had  more  than 
twenty  thousand  authors  in  every  branch  of  learning. 

We  have  had  mathematicians  and  scientists  like  Bosco- 
vich  and  Clavius  and  Kircher  and  Verbiest;  we  have  built 
observatories  in  every  part  of  Europe,  and  have  won  im- 
perial patronage  for  them  in  distant  China,  as  we  have 
them  still  in  the  most  dangerous  centres  of  the  world's 
commerce,  Havana,  Manila,  and  the  China  coast  —  and 
the  United  States  at  this  moment  are  publishing  the  result 
of  their  researches. 

We  have  sent  missionaries  to  every  savage  nation  to 
work  in  the  interests  of  science  and  for  the  increase  of 
human  learning;  we  have  had  daring  explorers  in  every 
part  of  the  world,  from  the  Congo  and  the  Nile  to  the 
Amazon  and  the  Mississippi,  whose  geographical  and 
scientific  charts  still  remain  and  are  yet  appealed  to,  as  in 
Venezuela,  for  international  arbitration. 

We  have  had  orators  like  Bourdaloue  and  Vieyra  and 
Segneri,  whose  eloquence  no  one  has  since  eclipsed;  and 
in  the  sublimer  studies,  those,  namely,  which  call  for  the 
greatest  intellectual  powers,  philosophy,  theology,  and 


JESUIT  EDUCATION  in 

Scriptural  exegesis,  the  works  of  Jesuits  are  the  glory  of 
the  modern  Church,  and  the  text-books  wherever  theology 
and  philosophy  are  taught,  while  their  illustrious  authors, 
Suarez  and  Bellarmine  and  Lessius  and  Petavius  and  a 
Lapide,  will  ever  be  regarded  as  pillars  of  the  Church  of 
God  and  glories  of  the  Society  of  Jesus. 

But  those  are  your  own  members,  it  may  be  said,  and 
the  reproach  against  you  is  precisely  that  you  are  ecclesias- 
tical in  your  education.  That  is  our  grievance  against 
you.  Have  you  formed  any  great  men  for  the  outside 
world?  Yes.  We  were  forming  illustrious  representa- 
tives for  every  career  of  life  in  civilized  lands  when  this 
country  was  a  howling  wilderness.  We  have  had  scholars 
who  were  the  scions  of  the  Bourbons  and  Montmorencis 
and  Rohans;  we  have  had  warriors  like  Farnese  and  Tilly 
and  Wallenstein,  Villars,  Luxembourg,  and  Don  John  of 
Austria;  statesmen  like  De  Broglie  and  Richelieu;  pon- 
tiffs like  Gregory  XIII,  who  is  identified  with  the  modern 
calendar;  Benedict  XIV,  one  of  the  most  learned  of  the 
Popes,  and  Pius  VI,  who  defied  Napoleon  and  died  in 
the  struggle.  We  have  had  Bossuet  and  Fenelon  and 
Francis  of  Sales,  Ligouri,  Bridaine  and  Fleury,  Alfieri 
and  Tasso,  Moliere  and  Corneille,  Canova  and  Mura- 
tori  and  Descartes  and  Justus  Lipsius,  and  even  Galileo 
himself.  These  are  but  a  few  of  the  vast  numbers 
of  illustrious  men  among  the  greatest  of  modern  times, 
princes,  pontiffs,  soldiers,  statesmen,  orators,  poets,  artists, 
scientists,  mathematicians,  historians,  who  were  our  stu- 
dents, many  of  whom,  like  Tasso  and  Fleury,  dedicated 
their  works  to  their  old  professors  and  cherished  through 
life  the  warmest  affection  for  those  who,  while  being  their 
masters,  were  always  their  affectionate  friends.  Does  not 
this  answer  the  accusation  that  our  education  is  merely 
ecclesiastical? 

Possibly  so,  it  may  be  said,  but  things  are  changed  now 


ii2  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

and  the  Jesuits  are  living  on  the  reputation  of  the  past. 
Well,  it  is  a  good  thing  to  have  a  past  if  it  can  be  looked 
back  to  with  pride;  breeding  and  good  blood  and  a  repu- 
tation are  not  to  be  despised  when  there  is  question  of  a 
struggle.  At  all  events,  we  are  not  unknown  in  the  field 
and  are  not  without  our  credentials  in  the  work  of  form- 
ing men.  That  we  are  not  doing  as  great  work  in  educa- 
tion now  as  in  the  past  may  be  admitted  without  any 
reason  for  discredit  or  reproach. 

A  scarred  warrior  in  fetters  on  a  desert  island  cannot 
repeat  the  glory  he  won  in  the  whirlwind  of  battle,  but 
the  fault  is  with  the  prison  and  not  the  prisoner.  Give 
him  his  liberty  and  the  same  power  that  he  displayed  in 
the  contest  and  he  will  assert  himself  again,  perhaps  in  a 
more  splendid  fashion  and  with  greater  triumphs  than 
before.  That  the  Jesuits  are  not  achieving  the  dazzling 
results  of  former  days  is  explainable  by  the  fact  that  in 
most  countries  of  Europe  the  Governments,  for  political  and 
religious  and  not  for  educational  reasons,  have  closed  their 
schools  and  forbidden  them  to  teach.  Give  them  freedom, 
and  give  them  some  small  part  of  the  means  that  are 
wasted  on  mere  educational  experiments,  and  we  should 
not  have  to  wait  long  for  results. 

In  the  great  German  province  of  the  Society  alone,  which 
counts  more  than  a  thousand  men  among  whom  are  scholars 
of  marked  ability,  there  is  not  a  single  school  or  college, 
and  that  condition  of  things  antedates  Bismarck  and  the 
Kulturkampf.  I  have  found  the  Jesuits  of  Genoa  in  the 
fifth  story  of  a  tenement  house  and  their  splendid  marble 
church  around  the  corner  closed  against  them.  I  have 
seen  them  in  Milan  in  a  little  chapel  no  larger  than  the 
room  in  which  we  are  assembled,  while  their  college  was 
changed  to  the  city's  museum  and  library  and  their  prin- 
cipal residence  converted  into  soldiers'  quarters.  I  have 
seen  them  in  a  back  alley  of  Bordeaux  and  their  vast  col- 


JESUIT  EDUCATION  113 

legiate  establishment  at  Tivoli  near  by  was  in  the  hands 
of  strangers.  I  have  been  at  table  in  Paris  and  have  been 
served  by  an  artilleryman  in  full  uniform,  one  of  our  young 
professors  let  out  for  an  hour  from  the  city  barracks. 
Will  any  one  tell  me  how  under  such  conditions  they  can 
do  the  work  of  former  times?  And  yet  there  are  some 
results  we  may  point  to. 

It  is  not  going  too  far  back  in  our  history  to  record  the 
fact  here  that  the  man  who  risked  most  in  signing  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  Charles  Carroll  of  Carroll- 
ton,  was  a  Jesuit  student,  as  was  his  illustrious  kinsman, 
the  friend  of  Washington  and  associate  of  Franklin,  the 
first  Bishop  of  the  United  States.  The  heroic  Steuben  of 
Revolutionary  fame,  whose  piety  in  life  and  death  is 
commented  upon,  was  a  Jesuit  student,  while  Lafayette 
imbibed  his  intense  love  for  the  classics  in  the  Society's 
famous  college  of  Louis  le  Grand,  which  its  enemies  had 
wrested  from  it  a  few  years  before,  but  where  its  methods 
and  traditions  still  remained. 

Coming  nearer  to  our  own  times,  we  have  representa- 
tives in  the  most  honored  position  an  American  can  covet, 
for  there  are  at  present  two  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  McKenna  and  White,  who  are  from 
our  Colleges  of  Santa  Clara  and  New  Orleans,  and  con- 
sidering our  numbers  and  lack  of  social  influence,  that  is 
far  beyond  our  quota.  We  have  a  fair  representation 
among  the  distinguished  members  of  the  United  States 
Senate,  one  of  whom  four  years  ago,  according  to  the 
Literary  Digest,  was  seriously  considered  as  a  candidate 
for  the  presidency,  White  of  California.  North  Carolina 
changed  her  laws  that  Gaston  of  Georgetown  might  hold 
office,  and  the  name  of  M.  P.  O'Connor  of  Fordham  is 
mentioned  with  enthusiasm  in  South  Carolina,  where  the 
"  statesman  and  orator  "  inscribed  on  his  tomb  is  referred 
back  to  the  training  he  received.  We  have  had  Governors 


ii4  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

of  States  like  John  Lee  Carroll  and  Louis  Lowe  of  Mary- 
land, while  others  like  the  illustrious  Senator  Francis 
Kernan,  who  was  nominated  for  Governor  of  New  York, 
and  John  W.  Corcoran,  who  was  twice  named  Lieutenant 
Governor  of  Massachusetts,  were  both  defeated  for  rea- 
sons which  reflected  glory  on  their  religious  education. 
We  have  had  orators  and  warriors  like  the  heroic  Garesche 
and  the  splendid  Thomas  Francis  Meagher.  The  hero 
of  Santiago,  Schley,  was  first  trained  in  our  school  at  Fred- 
erick; the  most  distinguished  and  capable  member  of  the 
first  Philippine  Commission,  Denby,  long  our  Ambassador 
to  China,  is  from  Georgetown;  the  last  hero  whom  Boston 
honored  with  a  monument,  the  noble  Shaw,  who,  braving 
the  unpopularity  of  the  act,  led  the  first  negro  regiment 
to  the  war  and  died  there,  was  a  boy  at  Fordham  with 
Hazzard,  and  McMahon;  and  his  near  relative,  Father 
Shaw,  was  a  Jesuit  priest;  and  the  man  who  absolutely  on 
his  own  merits  and  amid  a  storm  of  bigotry  and  hatred 
achieved  the  Secretaryship  of  New  York  State  is  ours, 
while  the  only  Catholic  members  who  were  ever  honored 
with  a  place  among  the  Regents  of  the  State  of  New  York 
are  our  men,  the  one  just  named  being  from  Fordham, 
the  Rev.  Thomas  A.  Hendrick,  who  ought  to  give  a  good 
account  of  his  stewardship. 

Surely  it  is  something  to  have  trained  a  scholar  of  the 
type  of  the  distinguished  Charles  George  Herbermann,  the 
editor-in-chief  of  the  great  Catholic  Encyclopedia.  He  was 
without  question  one  of  the  best  authorities  on  the  classics 
in  the  country,  besides  being  a  historian,  a  philosopher, 
and  for  more  than  fifty  years  the  glory  of  New  York 
City  College,  in  which  he  had  been  long  regarded  as  a 
crypto-Jesuit.  He  always  took  pleasure  in  ascribing  his 
success  to  his  old  masters. 

These  are  a  few  of  the  men  taken  at  random  who  at- 
tract most  attention,  but  there  are  others  shedding  lustre 


JESUIT  EDUCATION  115 

in  their  various  positions  in  the  army  and  navy,  on  the 
bench  and  at  the  bar,  in  the  medical  profession  and  in 
business,  in  whom  we  have  a  right  to  glory.  In  other 
countries  also  we  have  conspicuous  men  to  point  to :  leaders 
in  the  government,  admirals  in  the  navy,  heroic  soldiers 
on  the  field  of  battle,  scientists,  and  writers.  There  is 
Lamartine,  brilliant  alike  in  literature  and  statesmanship, 
whose  wisdom,  courage,  and  wonderful  eloquence  saved 
his  country  from  a  reign  of  terror;  there  is  Mezzofanti, 
so  marvellous  in  his  gift  of  tongues,  who  began  his  lin- 
guistic studies  under  Jesuit  masters.  The  great  Irish 
orator,  Richard  Lalor  Shiel,  is  ours,  the  man  upon  whom 
the  mantle  of  Malinckrodt  and  Windthorst  has  descended, 
the  great  leader  in  the  German  Parliament,  Lieber,  is 
ours;  and  that  one  who  is  the  most  inspiring  figure  of 
modern  history,  who  with  his  unaided  strength  struck  the 
shackles  from  his  race  in  which  they  had  languished  for 
centuries,  the  immortal  Daniel  O'Connell,  though  coming 
after  the  suppression  of  the  Society  at  St.  Omers,  he,  too, 
is  a  product  of  Jesuit  training. 

Omitting  the  fact  that  there  are  numbers  of  illustrious 
bishops,  such  as  the  entire  episcopacy  of  New  England, 
who  are  our  students,  and  that  the  august  figure  that  stands 
at  the  head  of  the  English  Church,  Cardinal  Vaughan,  as 
well  as  the  distinguished  friend  of  President  Diaz  of 
Mexico,  Gillow,  are  ours,  as  are  some  of  the  most  con- 
spicuous of  the  princes  of  the  Church  who  stand  near  the 
throne  of  Peter,  there  is  one  who  alone  would  be  a  suffi- 
cient vindication  of  our  power  to  educate,  one  whose  every 
utterance  shows  him  to  be  the  finished  scholar  to  his  very 
finger  tips,  one  to  whose  least  word  the  whole  world  listens, 
and  whom  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  obey,  the  man 
whose  life  so  marvellously  prolonged  makes  him,  as  he 
stands  upon  his  lofty  eminence,  seem  like  some  disembodied 
spirit,  the  glorious  Pontiff  Leo  XIII,  he  is  a  Jesuit  scholar. 


n6  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

From  the  preparatory  studies  to  the  last  thesis  he  defended 
in  theology,  he  has  had  no  other  teachers,  and  he  speaks 
of  it  always  with  satisfaction.  He  alone  can  free  us  from 
the  reproach  of  inferiority  in  the  training  of  men.  Had 
we  done  nothing  else  in  the  world,  that  would  be  enough 
to  point  to  with  pride  and  delight. 

These  are  some  of  the  tangible  results  of  our  system 
of  education,  and  the  examples  would  have  been  more 
numerous  and  more  brilliant  had  freedom  been  even  mod- 
erately accorded  for  the  exercise  of  its  powers.  Nor  could 
it  be  otherwise.  For  this  system  of  education  avoids  no 
field  of  human  inquiry,  and  has  been  conspicuous  for  its 
achievements  in  all.  It  accepts  all  the  researches  of  phys- 
ical science  and  has  given  hostages  for  its  love  of  it  by 
the  heroism  it  has  displayed  in  widening  the  sphere  of 
scientific  discoveries  and  the  zeal  with  which  it  has  explored 
their  depths.  But  it  does  not  yield  to  the  clamor  of  the 
age  and  permit  itself  to  be  absorbed  by  investigations  in 
the  material  universe.  It  grasps  the  splendid  literatures 
of  all  the  ages  and  holds  up  for  imitation  the  glowing 
ideals  of  all  that  is  noble  in  human  character,  even  in  the 
heroes  of  pagan  antiquity,  and  incites  the  impressionable 
mind  of  youth  to  emulate  their  greatness.  It  studies  the 
history  of  the  nations  and  draws  from  it  lessons  for  future 
guidance,  and  from  both  it  rises  to  the  contemplation  of 
the  sublimer  heroism  and  the  more  stupendous  events  that 
are  displayed  in  the  inspired  literature  which  comes  to  us 
from  the  hands  of  God  Himself,  and  by  that  means  dowers 
the  mind  of  the  scholar  with  glorious  visions  of  human 
and  supernatural  splendor  and  stamps  on  the  soul  moral 
impressions  which  time  can  never  efface.  It  goes  further, 
and  herein  lies  its  peculiar  power  in  developing  the  intel- 
lectual capabilities  of  its  students  in  a  manner  and  to  a 
degree  that  no  other  training  can  effect,  namely,  it  subjects 
them  to  a  thorough  discipline  in  the  study  of  mental 


JESUIT  EDUCATION  117 

philosophy,  a  philosophy  that  is  not  the  rationalism  which, 
according  to  its  great  historian,  Lecky,  "  eliminates  all  that 
is  heroic  in  human  nature,"  nor  the  blank  agnosticism  of 
the  day  which  calls  in  vain  for  an  answer  from  "  the  un- 
plumbed  depths  "  of  life  over  which  it  aimlessly  sails,  but 
a  philosophy  that  stands  erect  upon  its  mountain  peak 
and  in  the  clear  light  of  revelation  which  shines  not  to 
limit  but  to  enlarge  the  powers  of  the  mind,  scans  the 
mysteries  of  this  world  and  of  the  world  beyond,  and  gives, 
as  it  alone  can  give,  the  answers  to  the  problems  that 
puzzle  and  disturb  the  souls  of  men. 

Lastly,  it  comes  to  the  student  as  did  the  great  Lawgiver 
from  Sinai,  holding  in  its  hand  a  code  of  ethics  which 
determines  and  directs  the  conduct  of  individuals  and  of 
states;  not  the  mean  utilitarianism  that  is  so  immoral,  nor 
hedonism  or  the  ethics  of  pleasure  that  is  so  base,  but  an 
unerring  moral  philosophy  which  inculcates  the  eternal 
immutable  laws  that  are  reflected  on  the  human  conscience 
in  letters  of  light  from  the  mind  of  God,, by  which  men 
and  nations  are  guided  on  their  way  in  justice  and  truth. 

Thus  it  is  that  our  system  of  education  embraces  in  its 
scope  the  whole  material,  intellectual,  and  moral  nature 
of  man,  not  distorting,  not  unduly  developing  one  part  at 
the  expense  of  another,  but  achieving  a  perfectly  rounded 
completeness  in  its  work.  With  an  influence  such  as  it 
must  of  necessity  exert  upon  a  nation's  life,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  descend  into  the  barbarism  which  Santayana 
of  Harvard  declares  "  is  the  characteristic  of  the  poetry 
of  the  period";  nor  the  degradation,  vileness,  indecency, 
and  criminality  which  Marion  Crawford  asserts  "  has 
never  before  disgraced  civilization";  nor  the  educational 
wreckage  which  governmental  inquiry  in  France  has  shown 
to  be  the  outcome  of  its  methods  of  instruction;  nor  the 
moral  depravity  which  one  of  Germany's  greatest  univer- 
sity professors  declared  on  a  most  solemn  occasion  before 


n8  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

the  University  Senate  to  be  the  condition  of  the  educated 
classes  of  his  country.  "  There  is,"  says  that  illustrious 
man  whom  all  Germany  reveres,  "  a  denial  of  the  existence 
of  God,  and  a  mockery  of  His  word,  which  is  no  longer 
the  timid  confession  of  a  few  shipwrecked  souls,  but  the 
cold-blooded  conviction  of  hundreds  of  thousands  through- 
out the  Empire  who  consider  it  the  acme  of  culture  and 
education."  Our  education  is  the  antithesis  of  all  that,  and 
its  results  as  beneficent  as  the  others  are  replete  with 
disaster.  For  it  is  an  axiom  with  us  that  the  training  of 
men  which  does  not  lead  to  God  is  a  calamity  and  a  curse. 
The  system  which  we  advocate  has  always  endeavored  to 
be,  and  it  has  succeeded  largely  wherever  it  has  been  free 
to  act,  both  for  individuals  and  for  nations,  a  glory  and 
a  benediction. 


The  Higher  Education  of  Women— 
Madame  Barat 

Academy  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  Manhattanville,  New  York,  November  21,  1900 

THE  world  is  applauding  itself  at  present  over 
what  it  is  pleased  to  consider  its  magnanimous 
and  novel  conception  of  the  higher  education 
of  women.  Never  was  so  much  money  expended  in  schemes 
to  further  it,  never  was  so  much  of  what  by  courtesy  may 
be  called  thought  bestowed  to  perfect  it,  and  in  view  of 
all  that  was  expected  never  were  such  unsatisfactory  results 
obtained.  The  palatial  establishments  which  required  for- 
tunes to  build,  and  which  annually  call  for  a  king's  revenue 
to  maintain,  in  payment  of  professors  and  in  purchase  of 
scientific  apparatus,  have  in  point  of  fact  very  imperfectly 
advanced  the  end  proposed.  It  could  not  be  otherwise, 
for  all  these  splendid  endeavors  are  one-sided,  ill-advised, 
and  incomplete. 

If  there  is  one  thing  that  education  must  aim  at,  it  is 
the  formation  of  character.  That  missed,  the  education 
is  a  failure.  To  that  the  training  of  the  intellect  is  neces- 
sarily subservient.  You  may  dazzle  the  mind  with  a  thou- 
sand brilliant  discoveries  of  natural  science,  you  may  open 
new  worlds  of  knowledge  which  were  never  dreamed  of 
before,  yet  if  you  have  not  developed  in  the  soul  of  the 
pupil  strong  habits  of  virtue  which  will  sustain  him  in 
the  struggle  of  life,  you  have  not  educated  him,  but  only 
put  in  his  hand  a  powerful  instrument  of  self-destruction. 
You  have  made  a  monster  and  not  developed  a  man. 

To  obtain  that  educational  essentiality,  namely,  moral- 
ity, non-religious  education  is  absolutely  powerless.  It  can 
go  as  far  as  suggesting  and  advising  the  practice  of  certain 


120  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

natural  virtues,  but  it  can  only  advise;  it  can  never  com- 
mand. It  lacks  a  sanction  of  any  and  every  kind,  and 
though  it  may  possibly  punish  public  transgressions,  it  can 
never  reach  the  corruption  that  perhaps  may  be  all  the 
while  defiling  the  heart. 

There  is  where  religion  enters  as  an  indispensable  ad- 
junct in  the  work  of  education,  and  especially  in  the  work 
of  woman's  education.  To  develop  nobility  and  elevation 
of  character  in  her  is  always  its  first  aim.  For  it  knows 
that  virtues  such  as  purity,  piety,  self-sacrifice,  and  others 
must  be  developed  in  her  life  or  else  society  will  be  struck 
in  its  heart.  Infinitely  more  necessary  than  any  knowledge 
that  her  mind  may  acquire,  or  any  exterior  accomplish- 
ment in  which  she  may  be  made  proficient,  her  qualities  of 
soul  must  be  watched  over  with  a  care  that  never  relaxes 
and  a  solicitude  that  never  rests. 

Religious  education  does  not  counsel,  it  commands,  and 
it  bases  its  requirements  on  a  divine  authority.  It  does 
not  deal  with  virtue  in  the  abstract,  but  sets  before  the 
eye  of  the  pupil  shining  examples  in  the  lives  of  the 
teachers  themselves,  who  must  be  without  reproach.  It 
summons  up  from  the  past  all  the  noblest  and  purest  types 
of  womanhood  that  have  illustrated  the  world,  the  virgins, 
the  martyrs,  the  matrons,  the  recluses  in  their  cells,  the 
queens  on  their  thrones,  the  Cecilias,  the  Agathas,  the 
Agneses,  the  Pulcherias,  and  the  thousands  of  others  who 
have  given  the  sublimest  examples  of  womanly  virtue  in 
every  grade  of  society,  either  by  shedding  their  blood  for 
their  purity  or  their  faith,  or  by  dazzling  the  world  with 
the  splendor  of  their  immolation  in  the  service  of  God 
and  their  neighbor;  and  it  not  only  places  them  before  the 
eyes  of  the  pupil  as  worthy  of  imitation,  but  insists  upon 
the  beautiful  truth  that  these  saints  are  intimately  associated 
with  them  as  sisters  in  the  consanguinity  of  the  faith. 

It  goes  further  still  and  develops,  in  all  its  power  to 


THE    HIGHER   EDUCATION    OF   WOMEN     121 

impress  and  affect  the  sentiments  of  the  child,  the  God- 
given  tie  which  exists  between  the  Catholic  girl  and  the 
great  Woman  whose  part  was  so  stupendous  in  the  regen- 
eration of  the  human  race;  who  is  the  example,  to  a  de- 
gree that  words  fail  to  express,  of  the  perfect  woman  in 
all  the  various  stages  of  maidenhood,  motherhood,  and 
widowhood;  who  is  ever  beautiful,  whether  kneeling  in  the 
seclusion  of  Nazareth  or  standing  in  her  desolation  at  the 
foot  of  the  cross  when  the  sky  was  darkened  and  the  world 
rocked  beneath  her  feet;  the  woman  who  has  been  the 
theme  of  poets  and  painters  and  sculptors  of  every  age, 
and  whom  the  closing  pages  of  Scripture  reveal  as  crowned 
with  a  diadem  of  stars,  in  a  vesture  of  light,  enthroned 
in  the  heavens,  with  the  moon  beneath  her  feet.  This 
woman  the  child  is  taught  to  greet  with  the  tender  name 
of  mother  and  to  look  to  her  for  love  and  protection. 
Making  their  pupils  Children  of  Mary,  Catholic  educators 
have  lifted  them  into  a  sphere  of  nobility  of  thought  and 
aim  and  aspiration  of  which  other  guides  of  youth  have 
no  conception.  That  association  alone  is  an  education. 

The  other  notable  defect  of  modern  education  is  found 
in  the  multiplicity  of  subjects  which  it  presents  to  the  un- 
formed and  ill-prepared  mind  of  the  student.  The  result 
can  be  nothing  else  than  intellectual  congestion  and  dis- 
order. It  not  only  clogs  the  mind  but  cannot  impart  even 
erudition.  The  very  vastness  of  the  field  over  which  it 
wanders  must  necessarily  produce  mental  dissipation  and 
superficiality,  for  the  wider  the  scope  of  scientific  research 
the  less  depth  it  possesses,  while  its  almost  exclusive  de- 
votion to  studies  which  require  only  the  observation  of 
the  senses,  and  its  contempt  for  purely  mental  pursuits, 
as  metaphysics,  which  it  dismisses  with  disdain,  must  neces- 
sarily have  a  disastrous  effect  upon  the  mind.  The  in- 
capacity for  sustained  mental  application  in  the  readers 
of  to-day,  as  well  as  the  deplorable  incoherency  in  the 


122  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

logic  of  many  of  our  writers,  is  a  direct  consequence  of 
the  present  system  of  education. 

There  is  no  intention  in  all  this  to  belittle  the  study 
of  physical  sciences.  The  Church  has  always  encouraged 
them,  and  while  condemning  the  wild  theories  of  preju- 
diced scientists,  has  always  welcomed  the  results  of  serious 
and  well-proved  investigations.  The  father  of  modern 
physical  research,  Roger  Bacon,  was  a  monk,  and  his  great 
namesake,  centuries  later,  is  famous  for  the  prayer,  in  the 
preface  of  his  works,  in  which  he  begs  the  Father,  the 
Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  to  prevent  the  study  of  these 
material  things  from  doing  harm  to  his  faith. 

We  can  readily  admit  that  our  colleges  for  women  are 
not  equipped  as  extravagantly  as  other  establishments  which 
have  lately  been  erected.  That  is  due  to  reasons  which 
are  self-evident  and  in  no  way  implies  a  disregard  of  such 
pursuits.  But,  nevertheless,  in  spite  of  our  temporary 
drawbacks,  we  have  yet  to  hear  of  any  modern  woman 
who  has  won  lasting  fame  in  such  sciences.  We  have  yet 
to  find  the  equals  of  the  Italian  woman,  Anna  Mazzolina, 
who  was  professor  of  anatomy  in  the  Papal  University 
of  Bologna,  and  of  Maria  Agnesi,  who  held  the  chair  of 
mathematics  In  the  same  school;  of  that  other  woman  who 
succeeded  the  marvellous  Mezzofanti  as  professor  of  Greek, 
and  of  Novella  d'  Andrea,  who  taught  the  theologians  their 
canon  law.  These  were  only  a  few  of  the  distinguished 
women  who  lectured  in  that  oldest  of  European  univer- 
sities which  was  under  the  protection  of  both  Pope  and 
Emperor,  and  which  at  one  time  had  no  less  than  ten 
thousand  students  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  It  was 
no  small  honor  to  be  conspicuous  in  such  a  place.  In  its 
halls  dissection  of  the  human  body  was  first  essayed,  there 
Harvey  worked  out  his  theory  of  the  circulation  and  trans- 
fusion of  blood,  and  its  museums  of  anatomy  were  famous 
all  over  Europe.  There  Galvani  discovered  what  is  now 


THE    HIGHER   EDUCATION    OF   WOMEN     123 

called  galvanism;  there  Mezzofanti  presided  over  its 
libraries,  with  their  two  hundred  thousand  precious  vol- 
umes and  their  six  thousand  manuscripts.  Its  musical 
school  had  its  seventeen  thousand  books  on  music,  and  in 
our  own  day  Richard  Wagner  was  happy  to  accept  the 
honor  of  its  degree.  It  had  its  agricultural  and  humani- 
tarian schools  established  in  a  palace  and,  better  than  our 
Hall  of  Fame,  it  had  its  Pantheon  of  the  university  pro- 
fessors whose  busts  are  placed  in  its  niches.  It  was  in 
the  Papal  States  and  distinctly  under  papal  patronage,  and 
yet  we  are  informed  that  not  for  a  time  only  but  for  cen- 
turies women  were  famous  as  professors  there,  and,  al- 
though it  may  be  a  shock  to  our  prejudices,  that  their  taste 
commonly  led  them  to  the  chairs  of  medicine  and  particu- 
larly of  anatomy.  Hence  it  would  not  appear  that  the 
Church  was  opposed  to  the  higher  education  of  women, 
or  that  it  looked  askance  at  the  cultivation  of  the  physical 
sciences. 

But  there  is  another  field  which  is  especially  the  inheri- 
tance of  Catholic  education,  and  which  directly  regards  the 
development  of  the  intellectual  powers,  namely,  history, 
language,  art,  philosophy,  and,  above  all,  theology.  Cer- 
tainly no  one  has  left  such  monuments  of  historical  inves- 
tigation as  Catholic  writers;  the  languages  of  modern  civi- 
lization were  bestowed  on  the  world  by  Catholic  teachers; 
the  arts  took  their  sublimest  flights  under  the  direct  and 
personal  inspiration  of  the  Popes,  and  Rome  is  their  holiest 
sanctuary.  Catholic  philosophy  is  an  abiding  radiance  in 
the  domain  of  the  mind,  with  eternal  truth  for  its  centre 
and  not  the  fitful  glimmer  of  the  disordered  intellects  of 
deluded  dreamers,  while  theology  under  the  light  of  revela- 
tion has  opened  a  universe  for  the  speculation  of  the 
greatest  minds  that  the  world  has  ever  known. 

All  this  is  an  exclusive  and  home  field  for  Catholic  edu- 
cation and  for  the  education  of  Catholic  women.  Nor  is 


124  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

it  a  dream  that  can  never  be  realized,  but  a  substantial 
actuality  that  has  been  achieved  in  the  long-forgotten  past 
when  the  Church,  with  its  broad,  generous,  and  catholic 
mind,  had  more  opportunity  than  now  to  perfect  its 
designs. 

We  have  only  to  open  the  pages  of  Montalembert  in 
his  Monks  of  the  West  to  see  that,  from  the  first  intro- 
duction of  the  monastic  orders,  schools  for  girls,  managed 
by  nuns,  never  ceased  to  furnish  Catholic  society  with  a 
class  of  exceptional  women  as  distinguished  for  intelligence 
as  for  piety,  who  in  the  study  of  literature  rivalled  the 
most  learned  monks.  They  knew  Latin  and  Greek  and 
Hebrew;  they  showed  a  surprising  familiarity  with  Plautus 
and  Terence  and  Homer  and  Ovid;  they  studied  Greek 
and  Latin  patristic  theology;  on  their  own  initiative  they 
invited  learned  men  as  teachers  from  all  parts  of  Europe; 
they  wrote  remarkable  poetry;  they  composed  dramas 
which  showed  an  amazing  acquaintance  on  the  part  of 
these  recluses  with  the  conflicting  motives  of  human  life; 
they  lectured  on  Holy  Scripture  and  Canon  Law;  they 
were  artists,  musicians,  and  even  architects;  and  what  is 
especially  noteworthy,  the  most  conspicuous  among  them 
were  revered  at  the  same  time  for  the  holiness  of  their 
lives. 

There  you  have  an  example  of  the  Church's  attitude  in 
the  matter  of  Higher  Education.  The  present  movement 
is  not  new,  nor  is  it  as  daring  as  what  has  already  been 
achieved  in  Catholic  countries  and  Catholic  times. 

Our  modern  schools  are  not  there  yet,  it  is  true,  but 
to  have  been  the  pioneer  of  our  century  in  the  attempted 
realization  of  that  ideal  in  the  superior  education  of 
women,  while  devoting  herself  at  the  same  time  with  in- 
tense affection  to  that  of  the  humbler  classes,  is  the  glory 
of  the  great  modern  teacher  whom  we  are  honoring  to-day, 
the  foundress  of  the  Religious  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  though 


THE    HIGHER   EDUCATION    OF   WOMEN     125 

she  would  never  admit  the  title,  the  Venerable  Madame 
Sophie  Barat. 

Coming  amidst  the  terrors  of  the  French  Revolution, 
which  had  destroyed  all  the  schools  of  her  native  land, 
devastated  the  cloisters  and  convents  and  sent  their  forty 
thousand  inmates  to  the  guillotine  or  the  bottom  of  the 
Seine  or  scattered  them  as  wanderers  through  the  world, 
she  was  the  first  to  summon  around  her  a  band  of  devoted 
women,  and,  undaunted  and  undismayed  by  the  scenes  of 
carnage  through  which  she  had  passed  or  the  dread  that 
she  and  her  work  would  be  dealt  with  in  the  same  savage 
fashion,  she  set  herself  to  build  up  the  walls  which  anarchy 
and  irreligion  had  levelled  to  the  dust. 

A  singular  combination  was  her  life.  Gentle  and  peace- 
ful as  she  was,  there  seems  nevertheless  to  have  hovered 
ever  above  her  head  from  the  very  beginning  the  dark 
and  threatening  cloud  of  war.  Her  early  days  were  passed 
in  the  terrors  of  the  Revolution;  she  stood  for  months  in 
the  shadow  of  death  while  her  beloved'  brother  awaited 
in  his  cell  the  summons  to  the  guillotine;  she  saw  the  fires 
of  the  Revolution  glow  and  then  grow  pale,  and  its  blood 
cease  to  flow  only  to  be  succeeded  by  the  universal  wars 
of  the  great  Napoleon.  She  passed  through  the  upheavals 
of  1830  and  1848,  and  felt  the  shock  of  all  the  wars  that 
were  waged  in  the  various  nations  where  her  houses  were 
established.  It  was  not  without  a  certain  fitness  therefore 
that  she  whose  mission  was  one  of  peace  should  win  from 
a  warrior  the  permission  to  open  her  first  establishment 
of  education  in  her  native  country.  That  decree  without 
which  nothing  could  be  done  was  given  amid  the  carnage 
of  the  battlefield,  and  was  signed  by  Napoleon  Bonaparte 
while  he  was  exulting  in  his  victory  on  the  plains  of 
Austerlitz. 

In  her  beautiful  character  were  united  the  tenderness 
and  sweetness  of  a  woman  with  the  virility  of  a  man,  and 


126  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

she  fought  her  great  battle  and  fulfilled  her  splendid  mis- 
sion in  life  without  losing  aught  of  the  self-control,  the 
well-balanced  reserve,  and  attractive  modesty  which  be- 
fitted and  adorned  the  mother  of  a  great  religious  family. 
Her  first  preceptor  was  her  brother,  who  in  spite  of  his 
affection  ruled  her  with  an  iron  hand;  her  guide  through 
life  was  the  old  warrior  Father  Varin,  whose  constant 
injunction  to  her  was  esto  vir,  esto  robustus,  not  robusta  — 
be  a  man,  and  have  the  vigor  of  a  man  —  and  she  her- 
self regretted  sometimes  that  she  was  not  a  man,  for  she 
longed  to  do  still  greater  things  for  God,  and  in  that  com- 
bination of  gentleness  and  strength  we  have  the  explanation 
of  the  marvellous  results  which  she  accomplished,  although 
the  forward  and  aggressive  personality  which  we  are  prone 
to  expect  in  great  leaders  seems  to  have  been  utterly  effaced 
in  her. 

There  is  no  intention  here  of  belittling  the  splendid 
individuality  of  this  noble  woman,  of  obtruding  an  odious 
and  disparaging  distinction  of  the  relative  powers  of  either 
sex,  or  of  suggesting  the  desirability  of  introducing  mas- 
culine traits  into  feminine  characters.  A  mannish  woman 
is  as  offensive  to  the  soul  and  even  to  the  eye  as  is  an 
effeminate  man.  As  for  fortitude,  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion but  that  women  possess  capacity  for  it  to  such  a  degree 
that  men  very  frequently,  even  in  ordinary  every-day  life, 
are  forced  to  contemplate  them  with  amazement  and  some- 
times with  bitter  self-reproach  and  shame.  Once  convinced 
of  the  worthiness  of  the  object  to  which  she  is  devoted, 
a  woman  does  not  keep  incessantly  harking  back  to  the 
possibilities  of  failure,  as  men  do,  but  through  darkness 
and  defeat  hopes  on  and  fights  on  to  the  bitter  end.  What 
is  especially  to  their  credit  is  that  their  battle  is  fought 
unnoticed  of  the  world,  while  men  have  the  glamour  of 
public  applause  and  the  fear  of  public  disgrace  to  keep 
them  at  the  post  of  danger.  Even  on  the  field  of  battle, 


THE   HIGHER   EDUCATION    OF   WOMEN     127 

they  know  they  will  be  shot  down  by  their  own  men  if 
they  retreat  and  will  be  hailed  as  heroes  if  they  remain, 
but  Holy  Scripture  represents  the  mulier  fortis,  the  woman 
with  fortitude,  as  rising  in  the  night  and  toiling  amid  the 
cold  of  the  snows,  while  her  husband  is  honorable  in  the 
gates  of  the  city  and  sitteth  among  the  senators  of  the 
land.  He  has  the  applause  of  his  fellow-men,  while  she 
labors  and  suffers  unnoticed  at  home,  except  by  the  Spirit 
of  God,  who  records  in  Holy  Writ  that  "  far  and  from 
the  uttermost  coasts  is  the  price  of  her." 

No  Catholic  can  forget  that  when  men  fled  from  the 
Christ,  one  valiant  woman  broke  through  the  rabble  and 
the  ranks  of  the  soldiery  to  wipe  the  blood  from  His 
anguished  brow,  and  that  others  without  fear  stood  pub- 
licly weeping  and  bewailing  His  sorrows  as  He  journeyed 
to  Calvary.  Women  stood  at  the  foot  of  His  cross  where 
only  one  man  dared  to  appear.  The  voice  of  a  woman 
was  heard  amid  the  tumult  of  Good  Friday,  bidding  Pilate 
desist,  and  another  from  the  Court  of  Herod  stood  fear- 
lessly forth  as  His  disciple.  Women  were  first  at  the  tomb 
when  men  were  cowering  in  the  upper  chamber  "  for  fear  of 
the  Jews,"  as  Holy  Writ  is  careful  to  record,  and  they 
hastened  in  multitudes  to  clothe  themselves  with  the  red 
robes  of  martyrdom,  and  have  ever  been  as  eager  as  men, 
only  in  greater  numbers,  to  plunge  into  the  dangers  of 
savage  countries  for  the  salvation  of  abandoned  souls;  and 
at  the  present  moment  multitudes  of  delicate  shrinking 
women  are  displaying  the  most  astounding  heroism  in  the 
depths  of  the  forests  of  Africa,  in  the  frozen  regions  of 
Alaska,  or  are  laying  down  their  lives  with  joy  in  the 
butcheries  that  are  startling  and  shocking  the  civilized 
world  in  the  upheaved  Empire  of  China  to-day. 

Their  fortitude  is  not  only  not  less  but  in  many  instances 
far  greater  than  that  of  men;  it  is  freer  from  the  taint 
of  vanity  and  unsupported  by  the  human  helps  and  acci- 


128 

dents  that  sometimes  manufacture  heroes  who  a  moment 
later  would  have  succumbed  as  cowards.  They  are  satis- 
fied to  be  heroic  and  to  be  unknown  if  the  object  to  which 
they  willingly  sacrifice  their  lives  is  advanced  or  even  if 
it  fail. 

Hence  when  Mother  Barat's  personality  seems  to  be 
eclipsed  in  the  great  critical  moments  of  the  life  of  the 
Order,  it  is  nothing  else  but  the  sagacious  woman's  way 
of  exerting  a  greater  influence.  As  she  herself  expressed 
it,  de  tout  donner  pour  tout  avoir. 

When  the  fatal  decree  was  signed  in  Rome  which  en- 
tailed the  destruction  of  the  Congregation,  she  calmly 
wrote:  "Let  the  demon  be  let  loose  against  us;  that  has 
to  be.  But  I  abide  in  the  trust  that  the  Society  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  will  arise  from  its  ashes;  for  every  work, 
like  the  seed  of  the  wheat,  must  rot  before  it  produces 
fruit." 

Sublime  courage  in  the  midst  of  the  wreck  of  a  life 
work!  It  is  of  the  same  heroic  temper  as  that  of  the  just 
man  who  clings  to  his  purpose  to  the  end  in  spite  of  dis- 
aster. "  Though  the  heavens  fall  shattered  around  him,  the 
ruin  will  strike  him  undismayed."  With  the  exquisite  judg- 
ment of  a  true  woman,  she  had  refused,  as  her  biographer 
says,  to  descend  into  the  arena  where  so  much  passion  was 
arrayed  against  her,  and  she  remained  upon  the  sad  but 
serene  heights  of  immolation  and  prayer,  sure  that  the 
cause  would  ultimately  triumph. 

Such  is  true  womanly  heroism  —  self-sacrifice,  through 
terror  and  darkness  and  gloom,  and  a  sublime  trust  in 
God  that  not  only  does  not  falter,  but  grows  stronger  with 
trial,  because  it  knows  that  more  is  accomplished  by  suffer- 
ing and  prayer  than  by  the  angry  altercations  and  crushing 
blows  with  which  men  win  their  way  to  success.  It  is  not 
as  brilliant  as  the  power  of  man  and  does  not  attract  the 
notice  of  the  world,  but  neither  do  the  great  silent  forces 


THE    HIGHER    EDUCATION    OF   WOMEN     129 

which  shape  and  guide  and  beautify  this  universe  of  ours. 
Her  influence  is  of  that  kind.  Were  it  more  patent  and 
palpable,  perhaps  it  would  cease  to  exert  its  power. 

Hence  it  was  that  under  the  gentle,  sweet,  and  attrac- 
tive influence  which  Mother  Barat  wielded,  her  influence 
was  everywhere  felt  through  the  ever-widening  limits  of 
the  Order;  hence  it  was  that  from  the  storm  which  threat- 
ened its  destruction  she  emerged  without  the  loss  of  a 
single  house  or  a  single  religious,  and  by  the  power  which 
her  memory  still  exerts  among  her  daughters  she  has  in- 
sured for  them  the  possession  of  peace  that  has  never  been 
disturbed. 

It  would  be  an  injustice  to  ascribe  the  wonderful  growth 
in  the  religious  life  of  this  century  solely  to  her,  but 
.nevertheless  to  the  woman  who  first  appeared  after  the 
storm  that  had  destroyed  religious  life  in  her  country,  and 
we  may  say  in  Europe,  and  who  inspired  others  with  the 
heroism  she  displayed  (for  it  was  heroism  to  be  a  nun  in 
those  times) ,  some  degree  of  credit  is  due  to  her  that  to-day 
in  France  alone  there  are  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand 
women  in  religious  houses,  whereas  there  were  but  forty 
thousand  when  the  fury  of  the  Revolution  swept  them  from 
the  earth. 

Her  own  direct  influence  upon  the  world  and  the  Church 
is  surely  stupendous  enough  apart  from  this,  and  we  can 
well  wonder  at  the  work  she  has  done.  At  the  moment 
we  are  celebrating  the  centenary  of  the  Congregation  there 
are  actually  one  hundred  and  forty  religious  houses  of  the 
Sacred  Heart,  of  which  she  herself  established  eighty- 
five —  one  for  every  year  of  her  long  and  beautiful  life; 
there  are  seven  thousand  women  who  call  her  mother  and 
expect  for  her  the  honors  of  the  altar;  there  are  twelve 
thousand  children  in  her  academies,  twenty  thousand  in 
her  free  schools,  and  no  less  than  thirty  thousand  former 
pupils  under  the  beloved  title  of  Children  of  Mary,  who 


1 30  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

are  perpetuating  in  the  world  the  traditions  they  have 
received  in  the  schools  of  Mother  Barat.  That  is  the 
number  as  it  stands  to-day.  Go  back  over  the  years  of 
the  century  and  estimate  if  you  can,  by  counting  each  year, 
the  grand  total  of  religious  and  pupils  and  Children  of 
Mary  whose  influence  in  the  cause  of  right  throughout 
that  period  is  traceable  to  the  wonderful  woman  who  a 
hundred  years  ago  began  her  work  as  a  Religious  of  the 
Sacred  Heart.  Add  it  all  up  and  see  what  this  one  woman 
has  achieved. 

It  is  beyond  peradventure  true  that  the  scholastic  tri- 
umphs which  constitute  the  glory  of  the  nuns  of  former 
days  have  failed  of  accomplishment  in  our  own.  But  the 
blame  is  to  be  put  where  it  belongs.  It  is  the  fault  of  the 
age  in  which  we  live,  and  we  are  all  affected  by  it,  teacher 
and  taught  alike.  It  is  an  aes  triplex  in  which  present-day 
humanity  is  encased  and  which  it  seems  impossible  for  any 
one  to  pierce.  It  is  a  threefold  combination  of  a  shirking 
of  labor,  a  squandering  of  time  in  frivolous  occupations, 
and  an  unconquerable  dread  of  even  temporary  seclusion 
from  the  world.  Scholastic  prominence  in  such  a  condi- 
tion of  things  is  impossible,  for  no  one,  man  or  woman, 
ever  became  proficient  in  science  or  letters  without  persis- 
tent and  protracted  toil,  an  insatiable  greed  of  time,  and 
a  monastic  love  of  solitude.  That  is  what  made  the  old 
nuns  so  learned  and  so  famous.  They  were  inured  to 
toil,  their  rule  obviated  loss  of  time,  and  their  life  shut 
them  out  from  the  world  and  made  them  serious  and 
intense. 

Much  is  said  about  the  necessity  of  convents  adapting 
themselves  more  than  they  do  to  the  requirements  of  the 
times  in  which  we  live.  If  adapting  themselves  to  the 
requirements  of  the  times  means  yielding  more  than  they 
have  already  done  to  the  clamorous  demands  of  parents 
for  interruptions  of  study  and  more  plunges  on  the  part 


THE    HIGHER    EDUCATION    OF   WOMEN     131 

of  their  students  into  the  vortex  of  the  frivolous  amuse- 
ments of  the  day,  and  consequently  more  relaxation  of 
the  moral  fibre  and  more  inability  to  work,  then  the  posi- 
tion of  modern  Catholic  educators  is  a  hard  one,  placed 
as  they  are  between  the  impossibility  of  really  educating 
their  charges  and  the  necessity  of  closing  their  establish- 
ments. They  are  confronted  not  with  a  problem  of  edu- 
cation but  of  domestic  economy.  God  grant  they  may  at 
least  preserve  the  traditions  of  Christian  modesty,  and 
that  the  swaggering,  over-confident  damsel  who  affects 
masculine  fashions  and  is  cultivating  masculine  vices  may 
never  issue  from  our  convent  schools. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  requirements  of  the  day  call 
for  the  setting  aside  of  some  of  the  religious  who  are 
especially  gifted  and  urging  them  forward  while  giving 
them  the  means  to  achieve  eminence  in  the  languages,  in 
the  arts,  in  history,  in  science,  in  philosophy,  and  even  in 
divinity,  and  if  perhaps,  like  the  nuns  of  ancient  days,  they 
call  from  outside  distinguished  teachers  as  guides,  there 
certainly  does  not  seem  to  be  any  reason,  especially  in  the 
light  of  the  past,  why  such  adaptation  to  the  times  may 
not  be  resorted  to. 

Nor  should  this  be  left,  as  so  many  things  are  left,  to 
the  sole  efforts  of  the  devoted  women  who  have  given 
their  lives  and  their  fortunes  to  the  cause  of  Catholic  edu- 
cation, and  who  do  so  not  only  without  thanks  and  with- 
out recognition,  but  not  unfrequently  with  ignorant  criticism 
and  unwarranted  censure  from  a  certain  well-to-do  class 
of  the  Catholic  community.  If  a  fraction  of  the  money 
lavished  on  ridiculous  private  schools,  which  frequently 
have  little  to  recommend  them  except  the  vulgar  claims 
of  wealth  and  conceit,  and  which,  compared  with  a  regu- 
larly equipped  and  recognized  institution  of  learning,  are 
wofully  inadequate  to  educate  at  all,  the  want  of  resources 
which  now  hamper  and  impede  capable  teachers  would  be 


i32  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

done  away  with,  as  would  the  reproach  and  the  stigma 
which  make  the  people  who  are  conspicuous  for  their  ab- 
surd preference  so  open  to  condemnation. 

And  may  we  not  hope  that  the  daughters  of  the  saintly 
woman  whom  we  revere  to-day,  possessing  as  they  do  the 
splendid  example  which  she  has  set  for  them,  and  with  all 
that  the  Church  puts  at  their  disposal  in  literature,  in  his- 
tory, in  art,  in  philosophy,  and  in  theology,  may,  while 
keeping  all  the  graces  of  womanhood  and  all  the  virtues 
of  their  state,  become  conspicuous  in  the  educational  move- 
ment of  to-day?  They  can  easily,  if  properly  encouraged, 
not  only  leave  their  secular  competitors  far  behind  in  the 
race,  but  can  without  difficulty  eclipse  the  glory  of  the  nuns 
of  the  magnificent  past. 


The  Only  True  American 
School  System 

Convention  of  Young  Men's  Catholic  Societies,  Philadelphia, 
September  24,  1901 

A  enthusiastic  but  poorly  inspired  prophet  of  the 
West  has  informed  the  world  that  the  religion 
of  the  future  is  not  to  be,  as  he  puts  it,  a  matter 
of  godology,  but  of  manology.  Apparently  his  theology 
is  on  a  par  with  his  philology,  and  doubtless  he  would 
be  surprised  to  learn  that  the  more  even  he  knows  of  man, 
the  more  he  will  be  compelled  to  know  of  God,  for  the 
image  must  always  refer  back  to  the  original  from  which 
it  is  copied.  "  Let  us  make  man  after  our  own  image  and 
likeness,"  God  said  in  the  beginning,  and  whether  it  be 
in  the  intellect's  infinite  avidity  for  truth,  or  the  inviola- 
bility of  the  human  will,  or  the  imperishability  of  the 
human  soul,  that  likeness  must  remain  to  the  end,  and 
with  it  an  intimate  and  eternal  relationship  between  the 
Creator  and  the  creature.  From  that  relationship  obliga- 
tions on  the  part  of  the  man  ensue.  That  is  religion;  and 
without  it  man  is  simply  unthinkable. 

What  is  true  of  individuals  is  true  of  nations.  Religion 
is  indispensable.  "  You  may  find,"  says  Cicero,  "  cities 
without  palaces,  without  towers,  and  without  walls,  but 
never  without  a  temple  or  without  worship  " ;  or  as  Bona- 
parte, when  building  up  his  Empire,  paradoxically  but  em- 
phatically though  somewhat  blasphemously  expressed  it, 
"  If  there  were  no  God,  we  should  have  to  create  Him." 

Not  only  are  all  nations  convinced  of  its  necessity,  but 
we  have  at  least  one  example  of  a  political  power  actually 


i34  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

arrogating  divine  honors  to  itself,  erecting  temples  for  its 
cult,  and  immolating  hundreds  of  thousands  of  victims  on 
its  altars.  AVC  Roma  immortalis  was  but  the  expression 
of  a  belief  that  the  Empire  had  the  immortality  of  God. 

In  the  modern  dispensation  the  religion  that  is  essential 
to  the  prosperity  and  existence  of  the  State  is  Christianity. 
History  proves  that  beyond  question.  The  Jews  who  re- 
jected it  saw  Judah's  sceptre  broken  and  the  once  chosen 
people  scattered  as  wanderers  over  the  world;  it  was  per- 
secuted by  the  Caesars  and  the  great  Empire  crumbled  to 
the  dust;  where  it  has  been  expelled,  you  have  the  barbar- 
ism of  Mohammed  devastating  and  degrading  the  fairest 
countries  of  the  earth;  Europe  owes  its  civilization  to 
Christianity,  and  where  it  is  in  honor  and  is  influencing 
the  State,  you  have,  as  a  distinguished  Churchman  lately 
pointed  out,  three  of  the  strongest  nations  of  to-day,  Eng- 
land, Russia,  and  Germany;  while  those  countries  which 
once  ruled  the  world  in  arms  as  well  as  in  arts  and  letters, 
but  whose  governments  have  been  seized  by  a  set  of  free- 
booting  infidels,  foes  of  Christianity,  and  anarchists,  are 
now  scoffed  at  by  their  enemies  and  taunted  with  being 
of  the  decadent  and  moribund  Latin  race. 

How  does  our  own  country  stand  in  this  matter? 
Though  there  is  not  a  word  about  Christianity  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  or  the  Constitution,  we  are 
undoubtedly  a  Christian  nation.  The  intense  religiousness 
of  the  original  Colonies,  the  opening  of  the  Federal  and 
State  Legislatures  with  prayer,  the  annual  proclamation 
of  a  Day  of  Thanksgiving  to  God,  and,  just  at  this  ter- 
rible moment  through  which  we  are  passing,  the  touch- 
ingly  pious  death  of  the  last  President  who  fell  under  the 
bullets  of  the  assassin,  followed  as  the  tragic  event  was 
by  the  deeply  religious  messages  of  the  new  President  and 
the  Governors  of  the  various  Commonwealths,  all  go  to 
show  that  we  are  a  Christian  nation. 


ONLY  TRUE  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  SYSTEM    135 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  appalling  fact  revealed  by 
the  statement  of  the  most  representative  Protestant  paper 
of  the  country,  the  Independent,  that  out  of  our  seventy- 
five  million  people  only  twenty-three  million  belong  to  any 
Christian  denomination,  Catholics  included;  and  secondly, 
the  startling  and  ever-increasing  emptiness  of  our  churches 
coupled  with  the  scandalous  revolt  of  so  many  ministers 
of  religion  against  what  was  considered  hitherto  as  the 
essential  tenet  of  Protestant  Christianity,  namely,  the  au- 
thority of  the  Bible,  and  the  rejection  by  so  many  of  them 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  whom  they 
accept  merely  as  a  religious  teacher,  force  upon  us  the 
dreadful  conviction  that  what  Christianity  there  is  in  the 
country  is  fast  disappearing. 

Does  that  mean  that  our  existence  as  a  nation  is  men- 
aced? We  might  answer  that  question  by  another.  Have 
we  any  right  to  expect  any  other  result  than  what  has 
happened  elsewhere  under  similar  conditions? 

Washington,  in  his  Farewell  Address,  has  warned  us 
that  "  reason  and  experience  both  forbid  us  to  expect  that 
national  morality  can  prevail  in  exclusion  of  religious  prin- 
ciples." And  where  there  is  no  national  morality  there 
is  national  ruin.  Gladstone  said  the  same  thing  of  Eng- 
land. Other  great  men  have  expressed  themselves  in  a 
similar  strain:  and  for  the  matter  of  that,  though  so  easily 
lost  sight  of,  it  is  almost  a  self-evident  proposition. 

But  are  there  facts  to  support  this  pessimistic  theory? 

They  are  not  wanting.  Neglecting  such  agents  of  cor- 
ruption as  the  literature  of  the  day,  which  exerts  a  most 
malign  influence  even  upon  our  children,  and  which  such 
a  competent  judge  as  Marion  Crawford  declares  to  be  "  the 
worst,  the  vilest,  the  most  degrading,  and  the  most  crimi- 
nal literature  that  has  ever  disgraced  civilization";  omit- 
ting the  influence  which  the  stage  exerts  on  what  is  now 
a  theatre-loving  people,  and  which,  if  half  that  is  said  of 


136  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

it  be  true,  seems  designed  to  excite  the  foulest  passions 
and  inculcate  the  vilest  principles  of  human  conduct;  pass- 
ing by  all  that,  we  are  confronted  with  the  fact  that  the 
vast  majority  of  our  school  children  never  hear  a  word 
of  Christianity  during  the  entire  school  week  and  never 
enter  a  house  of  worship  on  Sunday.  What  will  the  Chris- 
tianity of  these  future  men  and  women  be?  What  is  it 
now?  And  yet  the  destinies  of  the  United  States  will  be 
in  their  hands  in  the  next  generation.  Conspicuous  men 
among  us,  who  are  not  Catholics,  have  already  raised  the 
note  of  alarm. 

Add  to  this  the  ominous  condition  of  American  life  in 
the  matter  of  marriage,  in  which  there  is  not  only  a  falling 
off,  but  a  wholesale  apostasy  from  the  spirit  and  legisla- 
tion of  Christianity.  The  condition  of  things  is  not  only 
humiliating  and  shameful,  but  appalling.  Mulhall  in  his 
Dictionary  of  Statistics  tells  us  (and  his  authority  is  unim- 
peachable) that  "  the  actual  number  of  divorces  granted, 
in  the  twenty  years  that  preceded  1886,  was  in  the  United 
States  328,716,  while  in  the  same  period  throughout  the 
entire  Continent  of  Europe  there  were  approximately 
258,000.  The  population  of  Europe  at  that  time  was 
350,000,000,  while  ours  was  a  trifle  over  50,000,000." 
That  is  to  say,  Europe  had  seven  times  as  many  people 
as  we,  and  yet  we  distanced  it  by  nearly  70,000  divorces. 
Is  Christianity  waning  or  not?  That  was  fifteen  years 
ago,  and  we  have  gone  down  deeper  in  the  abyss  since 
then.  It  is  wise  to  remember  that  the  world-wide  Empire 
of  Rome,  the  most  stupendous  political  structure  ever  built, 
dated  its  destruction  from  the  multiplication  of  its  divorces. 
Can  we  promise  ourselves  a  different  fate? 

The  record  of  crime  is  still  more  distressing.  In  1880 
our  prison  population  was  59,259,  that  is,  1180  for  every 
million  inhabitants.  Already  in  1899  the  number  had  risen 
to  82,329,  and  of  these  7386  were  charged  with  homicide. 


ONLY  TRUE  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  SYSTEM    137 

In  1886  alone,  1499  murders  were  committed,  while  in 
Germany  in  the  same  year,  with  its  population  of  48,000,000 
as  against  our  60,000,000,  there  were  only  337  homicides. 
Four  years  after,  namely,  in  1890  alone,  we  have  the 
horrible  record  of  3567  murders.  The  Chicago  Tribune, 
quoted  by  Mulhall,  says  that  in  the  six  years  between  1884 
and  1889  there  were  no  less  than  14,770  murders  and 
975  lynchings,  which  of  course  are  murders  in  an  aggra- 
vated and  atrocious  form,  with  the  guilt  of  blood  on  all 
the  abettors. 

Nor  is  this  frightful  increase  in  homicide  due  chiefly 
to  the  foreign  element.  The  World  Almanac  of  1901 
informs  us  as  to  the  nativity  of  the  4425  white  homicidal 
criminals  in  jail,  that  "3157  were  born  in  the  United 
States,  and  1213  foreign  born."  The  2739  negro  mur- 
derers are  of  course  native  to  the  soil. 

With  regard  to  the  scenes  which  are  occurring  in  cer- 
tain parts  of  our  country  with  such  alarming  frequency 
and  with  circumstances  of  such  unexampled  ferocity,  we 
say  nothing  except  to  note  that  it  is  not  an  imported  crime, 
and  that  if  the  negroes  against  whom  the  fury  is  raging 
had  been  Catholicized,  they  would  not  be  regarded  now 
as  wild  beasts.  It  is  a  boast  in  the  South  that  the  foreign 
element  has  not  entered  there. 

We  may  well  heed  the  warning  of  the  Protestant 
Bishop  of  Western  Texas,  who  is  quoted  in  the  New  York 
Sun  as  saying:  "The  conditions  around  us  are  to  lead  in 
a  few  decades  to  a  struggle  the  like  of  which  has  never 
been  seen  in  this  country,  and  it  will  be  with  a  generation 
that  will  not  believe  in  anything  at  all." 

There  is  no  denying  the  danger  ahead  of  us.  The 
question  is,  how  is  it  to  be  averted?  Why  of  course,  we 
are  told,  "  by  the  churches."  But  they  are  empty,  and  it 
is  a  physical  impossibility  to  reach  the  people  through  that 
agency.  They  are  not  there  to  hear,  and  even  if  they 


138  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

were,  the  jarring  and  discord  of  the  preachers  would  soon 
drive  them  out. 

"  Let  men  think  then,  and  their  reason  will  guide  them 
aright."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  a  prevailing  impres- 
sion with  our  more  than  self-sufficient  fellow  countrymen 
that  each  man  is  a  law  unto  himself,  quite  competent  to 
formulate  his  religious  views  and  frame  his  code  of  morals. 
If  we  have  a  national  religion,  it  is  that. 

However  flattering  such  an  assumption  may  be  to  our 
self-conceit,  it  is  in  flat  contradiction  with  reason  and  ex- 
perience. Think  out  his  own  religion!  Can  the  mud- 
stained  laborer  who  perhaps  has  taken  his  dinner  in  the 
ditch  and  who  stumbles  home  after  his  hard  day's  work 
to  a  miserable  tenement  amid  a  swarm  of  clamorous  chil- 
dren to  snatch  a  few  hours'  rest  for  the  toil  of  the  mor- 
row, do  any  independent  thinking  on  the  abstruse  matters 
of  morality  or  religion?  Can  the  mechanic  who  slaves 
at  his  bench,  or  the  clerk  at  his  desk,  or  the  merchant  en- 
grossed in  money-making,  or  even  the  lawyer  or  physician 
absorbed  by  the  anxieties  of  his  profession,  sit  down  and 
ponder  the  vast  mysteries  of  the  spiritual  world?  Taking 
man  as  he  is,  actuated  by  passion,  absorbed  in  business 
pursuits,  apathetic  from  constitutional  sluggishness,  and 
averse  to  anything  outside  the  domain  of  sense,  though 
he  may  attain  some  religious  knowledge,  there  are  a  thou- 
sand chances  to  one  that  he  will  not  bestir  himself  at  all, 
and  there  are  more  chances  still  that  if  he  does  he  will 
blunder  in  the  most  elementary  truth.  But  above  all  that, 
there  are  mysteries  which  no  man  can  fathom  and  for  which 
instruction  is  indispensable.  We  ask  a  policeman  or  a 
passer-by  to  guide  us  in  a  strange  city;  can  we  all  unaided 
find  the  path  that  leads  over  the  limitless  universe  of  the 
unseen?  If  the  meanest  handicraft  as  well  as  the  most 
learned  profession  requires  an  instructor  who  perhaps  has 
spent  years  in  acquiring  the  knowledge  he  possesses,  surely 


ONLY  TRUE  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  SYSTEM    139 

an  acquisition  of  the  sublime  truths  of  religion  requires 
similar  assistance.  The  mere  motorman  or  the  man  with 
the  hoe  needs  some  one  to  show  him  how.  It  is  in  the 
very  nature  of  things.  We  cannot  or  do  not  evolve  knowl- 
edge out  of  our  helpless  ignorance.  Aid  must  come  from 
above,  and  as  the  beneficent  sunshine  beaming  on  the  cold 
and  lifeless  earth  calls  up  the  flowers  and  the  fruitage  that, 
delight  and  sustain  the  world,  so  in  the  realm  of  the  in- 
tellect the  brightness  of  the  knowledge  that  our  fellow-men 
as  well  as  the  generations  that  have  preceded  us  have 
acquired  must  dispel  the  darkness  of  our  mind  and  make 
it  beautiful  and  safe  with  the  light  it  imparts. 

Where  shall  we  find  this  teacher  in  religious  matters? 
Where  shall  we  find  him  especially  for  our  children,  who 
assuredly  are  not  independent  thinkers  in  anything  and  most 
of  all  in  matters  of  religion? 

"  There  are  two  ways  to  solve  the  problem,"  says  the 
Educational  Review  which  voices  the  best  non-Catholic 
views  on  this  particular.  "  One  is  to  teach  religion  in  the 
churches,  Sunday-schools,  and  homes,  and  such  is  the  aver- 
age Protestant  position;  the  second  is  to  teach  it  in  schools, 
as  Catholics  and  Lutherans  insist." 

With  regard  to  the  first  he  makes  the  astounding  ad- 
mission that  "  Protestants  are  shockingly  lax  in  fulfilling 
their  obligations  in  this  respect,  and  still  more  shockingly 
incapable  of  rising  to  an  appreciation  of  their  responsi- 
bility." "  The  other,"  he  continues,  namely,  "  that  of 
teaching  religion  in  schools,  is  fraught  with  too  many  diffi- 
culties to  be  even  thought  of." 

Deploring  "  the  shocking  laxity  of  the  average  Protestant 
in  appreciating  his  responsibility,"  and  animadverting  that 
Catholics  and  Lutherans  are  not  alone  in  insisting  upon 
religion  being  taught  in  the  schools  (for  Methodists  and 
Episcopalians  and  Congregationalists  and  Friends,  the 
Evening  Post  of  August  31,  1901,  assures  us,  are  doing 


1 40  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

the  same  thing),  let  us  ask  what  are  the  reasons  why  the 
project  as  Lutherans  and  Catholics  view  it  cannot  be  even 
thought  of. 

The  first  reason  alleged  is  the  uproar  which  the  proposi- 
tion caused  when  first  mooted  in  the  recent  revision  of  the 
Charter  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

To  this  we  reply  that  it  is  a  humiliating  confession  for 
men  who  boast  so  much  of  the  strenuous  life  to  be  balked 
in  any  honest  project  by  a  little  noise.  After  admitting 
that  religion  is  an  essential  element  in  education;  that  at- 
tempts to  substitute  an  independent  morality  are  fatuous 
and  have  signally  failed;  that  the  project  which  the  aver- 
age Protestant  favors  holds  out  no  hope  of  realization; 
that  it  is  indispensable  for  the  welfare  of  the  nation,  and 
that  Catholics  and  Lutherans  and  others  have  successfully 
adopted  it;  and  then  to  retreat  because  a  few  noisy  and 
obstreperous  demagogues  are  averse  to  it,  is  to  act  in  a 
manner  that  is  not  creditable  to  American  manhood.  If 
the  course  is  just,  necessary,  and  feasible,  if  the  country's 
salvation  depends  on  it,  why  not  follow  it  at  any  cost? 
Its  opponent  counted  precisely  on  this  faint-heartedness  and 
must  be  greatly  amused  at  the  haste  of  its  adherents  to 
display  the  white  feather. 

The  second  reason  against  teaching  religion  in  schools, 
though  not  explicitly  formulated,  is  that  it  is  not  American. 
If  it  is  not,  it  ought  to  be.  But  it  is  American  and  essen- 
tially so;  and  only  recent  times  have  brought  about  the 
present  dangerous  conditions.  Harvard  was  founded  for 
training  Calvinist  ministers:  Yale  was  intensely  Calvinistic, 
as  were  all  the  subsidiary  schools  which  supplied  both  col- 
leges with  students.  The  old  New  England  primary  schools 
were  thoroughly  religious,  and  in  the  quaint  Puritan  phrase- 
ology of  the  day  were  mainly  "  to  circumvent  the  devices 
of  Satan."  The  Evening  Post  of  September  7,  1901,  says, 
that  at  the  present  day,  of  the  1957  secondary  schools  with 


ONLY  TRUE  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  SYSTEM    141 

their  200,000  pupils  and  9410  teachers  (and  of  course  the 
number  is  vastly  larger  in  the  primary  grades),  more  than 
one  half  are  strictly  religious.  Are  they  un-American? 
To  say  that  we  are  tampering  with  the  Palladium  of 
American  Liberty  by  advocating  religious  teaching  is  not 
to  know  the  school  history  of  this  country,  and  to  be  blind 
to  the  fact  that  not  only  can  there  be  no  liberty  without 
religion,  but  that  it  is  a  descent  into  paganism  with  its 
horrible  and  necessary  tyranny  of  soul  and  body.  Instead 
of  being  a  Palladium  of  Liberty,  irreligious  and  unreligious 
schools  become  the  Wooden  Horse  that  will  destroy  the 
city. 

The  enthusiasm  for  the  schools,  as  at  present  constituted, 
springs  from  a  groundless  assumption  of  their  superiority 
to  any  other  system  that  any  one  has  hitherto  conceived; 
and  this  impression  is  sedulously  cultivated  in  the  minds 
of  the  pupils  themselves  and  of  the  public  at  large,  and 
with  it,  of  course,  a  corresponding  contempt  for  what  are 
commonly  known  as  parochial  schools.  The  esteem  and 
the  contempt  are  both  without  foundation. 

In  the  first  place,  we  might  animadvert  that  it  is  a 
peculiar  grace  of  God  to  see  ourselves  as  others  see  us, 
especially  if  those  others  are  our  friends.  Other  men's 
views  about  us  are  often  revelations.  Thus  the  New  York 
Evening  Post,  March  19,  1900,  in  a  review  of  a  book  on 
the  History  of  Education,  condemns  "  the  unstinted  praise 
that  is  given  to  modern  school  books  and  modern  systems 
of  education.  It  is  enough  to  enter  a  modern  school  room 
and  see  how  these  systems  are  applied,  with  the  very  mini- 
mum of  genuine  reflection  and  good  sense,  to  understand 
at  once  why  it  is  that  the  rising  generation  produce  upon 
men  in  the  afternoon  of  life  such  an  impression  of  feeble- 
ness." The  President  of  the  Schoolmasters'  Association 
of  the  United  States  frankly  declared,  in  the  annual  con- 
vention, that  "  it  would  be  better  to  read  a  novel  of  Balzac 


1 42  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

than  to  attempt  to  master  some  of  the  pedagogical  stuff 
that  is  inflicted  on  the  teachers  of  the  present  day." 
Charles  Stuart,  the  ex-School  Commissioner  of  Ohio,  writ- 
ing in  the  Forum,  admits  that  "  our  popular  education  is 
superficial  and  does  not  develop  mind  or  character."  The 
Times  Supplement  of  March  31,  1900,  informs  its  readers 
"  that  the  great  political  leaders  of  France  and  England 
are  literary  men  "  and  inquires  why  similar  cases  are  rare 
in  the  United  States.  It  makes  answer  that  "  with  us  there 
is  more  education  but  less  scholarship,"  which  is  an  admis- 
sion of  poor  education. 

Besides,  it  is  impossible  to  shut  our  eyes  to  the  lament- 
able condition  of  many  of  our  public  schools  as  they  now 
exist.  Even  in  the  capital  of  the  country  they  called  from 
the  Senate  Investigation  Committee  the  scathing  report 
quoted  in  the  New  York  Tribune,  April  19,  1900,  that 
"  the  result  of  a  thorough  and  fair  trial  showed  a  deplor- 
able want  of  training  in  the  grades  the  young  people  were 
supposed  to  have  mastered.  In  history  and  arithmetic  the 
general  average  made  was  not  much  over  fifty  per  cent. 
The  penmanship  was  poor  and  the  spelling  miserably  bad." 
Senator  Stewart,  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  said: 
"  The  children  seem  to  have  had  very  indifferent  instruc- 
tion. The  teachers  of  to-day  are  victims  of  a  bad  system; 
the  old-fashioned  schools  did  much  better  work  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  the  path  of  learning  has  been  made 
smoother  and  many  things  simplified."  In  Alabama  the 
State  Board  of  Examiners  have  discovered  "  the  most  de- 
plorable ignorance,  even  among  men  who  had  received 
teachers'  certificates."  The  Educational  Review,  May  i, 
1900,  quoting  the  Courant  of  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  gives 
what  it  terms  "  a  melancholy  picture  of  the  deplorable 
condition  of  the  public  schools  of  that  city."  The  New 
York  Commercial  Advertiser,  April  14,  1900,  reports  that 
"  charges  were  made  by  the  Board  of  Education  of  Chi- 


ONLY  TRUE  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  SYSTEM    143 

cago,  that  the  teachers  of  the  public  schools  fail  to  instruct 
the  pupils  in  the  most  necessary  branches  of  learning;  one 
trustee  asserting  that  half  the  teachers,  most  of  whom  are 
said  to  be  graduates  of  the  local  high  schools,  could  not 
speak  or  write  English,  or  spell  correctly.  The  superin- 
tendent admitted  that  many  of  the  teachers  were  deficient 
in  these  points,  but  that  the  fault  was  with  the  system  in 
which  they  were  instructed  and  in  which  they  were  instruct- 
ing others."  Finally,  the  distinguished  Dr.  Eliot,  of 
Harvard,  laments  that  even  the  public  schools  of  Boston, 
which  were  supposed  to  be  irreproachable,  "  are  not  what 
they  were  fifty  years  ago." 

This  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  dispose  forever  of  that 
ridiculous  old  fetich,  before  which  so  many  have  been  down 
on  their  knees  for  years  past  and  to  which  they  have  as- 
cribed so  many  marvellous  and  supernatural  powers.  On 
the  public  school  question  the  average  American  is  curi- 
ously superstitious. 

Such  being  the  case,  and  in  the  face  of  such  authority 
it  would  be  silly  to  deny  it,  it  is  manifestly  improper  to 
look  with  disdain  upon  schools  which  are  not  of  the  public 
school  system  and  to  taunt  them  with  inferiority.  The 
retort  is  in  order,  "  Physician,  cure  thyself."  It  is  annoy- 
ing, on  the  other  hand,  to  hear  such  reproaches  from 
Catholics,  especially  when  their  personal  qualifications 
scarcely  fit  them  for  passing  judgment  in  such  matters. 
Moreover,  it  is  altogether  unfair  to  pile  a  mountain  on 
a  man  and  then  reproach  him  with  inactivity.  Catholics 
all  over  the  land,  although  crushed  by  school  taxes  for 
other  men's  children,  have  been  compelled  to  burden  them- 
selves besides  with  heavy  outlays  for  their  own.  Aided 
by  thousands  of  religious  men  and  women  who  have  with- 
out compensation  consecrated  themselves  to  the  work,  they 
have  erected  schools  which  at  times  equal  in  their  equip- 
ment some  of  the  best  built  by  the  State;  out  of  their  hard 


144  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

earnings  they  have  disbursed  millions  of  dollars,  and  with- 
out the  cost  of  a  penny  to  the  State  are  educating  now 
more  than  a  million  children.  Not  only  that,  but  they 
have  saved  the  country  from  dishonor  before  the  civilized 
world.  There  are  thousands  of  children  on  the  street 
to-day  for  whom  the  public  schools  have  no  accommoda- 
tions; vast  numbers  of  others  can  have  but  a  half  session 
for  the  same  reason.  Suppose  the  million  Catholic  chil- 
dren of  the  parochial  schools  were  added  to  this  abandoned 
multitude.  Catholics  assumed  the  burden  of  educating 
them.  The  service  is  not  recognized  but  suspected. 

Nor  is  the  education  of  Catholic  children  below  grade. 
We  have  not  heard  that  the  graduates  have  any  difficulty 
in  securing  admission  to  the  High  and  Normal  schools. 
On  the  contrary,  the  percentage  of  success  is  remarkably 
large.  In  competitions  for  West  Point  and  Annapolis 
parish  schools  easily  carry  off  the  prize,  and  where  there 
has  been  a  trial  of  strength  with  the  same  text-books  and 
the  same  course,  as  in  Poughkeepsie  and  elsewhere,  Catho- 
lic schools  were  invariably  in  the  lead.  In  fact,  there  is 
a  suspicion  abroad  that  the  cancelling  of  school  contracts 
in  some  places  was  due  to  that  fact. 

We  have  no  means  at  our  disposal  to  institute  a  com- 
parison all  along  the  line;  but  Catholics  are  the  same  the 
world  over,  and  the  recent  Examination  Results  in  Ireland, 
for  example,  show  the  exclusively  Catholic  University  Col- 
lege of  Dublin  far  and  away  beyond  all  the  others.  Similar 
success  is  noted  in  England,  and  the  troubles  in  France 
emphasize  the  same  truth.  There  is  not  a  shadow  of  a 
doubt  that  the  popularity  of  the  Catholic  schools  deter- 
mined their  suppression  and  impelled  the  infidel  govern- 
ment to  seize  the  establishment  and  turn  out  the  teachers 
as  beggars  in  the  street.  The  correspondent  of  the  Even- 
ing Post  of  September  3,  1901,  impliedly  admits  it. 

Why  should  they  not  achieve  such  results?     Religion 


ONLY  TRUE  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  SYSTEM    145 

does  not  make  people  stupid.  The  brightest  minds  that 
modern  civilization  has  known  have  been  the  product  of 
religious  schools;  and  Catholics  especially  have  sacrificed 
too  much  to  be  satisfied  with  an  inferior  education.  Give 
us  a  fair  field  and  no  favor.  That  is  all  we  ask. 

This  leads  us  to  the  third  and  real  reason  of  the  op- 
position to  religious  teaching  in  the  schools,  namely,  the 
fear  of  Catholicity,  the  dread  that  Catholics  will  profit 
by  it  most.  "  Well,  what  if  they  do  profit  most?  "  "  Why, 
such  a  result  would  be  a  menace  to  the  country."  "  In- 
deed!" "  Yes,  there  is  something  about  every  Catholic 
that  prevents  him  from  being  a  genuine  American."  If 
not  expressed  in  so  many  words,  there  is  a  vague  undefined 
feeling  in  men's  minds  that  such  is  the  case. 

Strange  fatality!  I  am  a  Catholic  and  cannot  be  a  true 
American.  I  am  thus  a  man  without  a  country,  and  yet 
with  greater  rights  perhaps  than  others  to  possess  one. 

A  Catholic  is  not  an  alien  here.  The  first  pioneers  of 
civilization  in  this  western  world  were"  Catholics,  and  the 
Catholic  cross  was  planted  on  these  shores,  not  only  by 
Columbus  in  San  Salvador,  but  centuries  before  by  Leif 
Eric  in  Massachusetts.  The  names  of  Catholic  saints  and 
Catholic  mysteries  are  stamped  upon  our  rivers  and  lakes 
and  mountains,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  the 
right  of  occupation  was  admitted  long  before  those  of 
other  faiths  entered  Boston  harbor  or  the  river  James; 
Catholics  were  conspicuous  in  the  Revolutionary  struggle; 
they  fought  for  their  country  in  1812  while  Puritan  New 
England  was  ringing  bells  for  English  victories;  they  led 
the  nation's  troops  in  the  War  of  Secession  and  died  by 
thousands  as  privates  in  the  ranks,  from  Bull  Run  to 
Appomattox;  they  fought  against  Catholic  Mexico,  and 
later  on  against  Catholic  Spain;  they  have  covered  the 
country  with  monuments  of  charity  in  their  asylums  and 
hospitals,  and  have  given  thus  splendid  hostages  of  loyalty 


146  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

to  their  .native  land;  hundreds  of  thousands  of  their  chosen 
ones  have  relinquished  all  the  delights  of  home  to  succor 
the  poor  and  afflicted;  as  a  class  they  are  remarkable  for 
their  absence  from  the  ranks  of  those  enemies  of  all  gov- 
ernment, the  Socialists  and  Anarchists;  they  are  honored 
in  every  walk  of  life  for  their  ability,  integrity,  and  suc- 
cess, and  yet,  in  spite  of  all  this,  are  objects  to  many  of 
suspicion  and  distrust.  In  fact,  have  we  not  been  called 
upon  in  the  press  by  one  who  is  apparently  a  public  man 
and  who  admits  the  great  benefits  accruing  to  this  country 
from  Catholicity,  notably,  "  because  it  trains  the  young 
in  a  way  to  secure  good  morals  and  respect  property  rights 
and  the  rights  of  others,"  to  demand  that  the  Head  of 
the  Church  should  declare  that  he  harbors  no  designs 
against  this  nation?  In  other  words,  we  are  saving  our 
country  and  yet  are  suspected  of  destroying  it.  He  did 
not  mean  it,  of  course,  for  his  purpose  is  apparently  be- 
nevolent, but  the  implication  is  offensive.  Not  we,  but  you 
who  are  refusing  religious  education  to  the  rising  genera- 
tion and  preventing  us  from  giving  it  to  our  own,  are 
bringing  ruin  on  the  country.  We  really  are  true  Ameri- 
cans, and  not  you. 

Far  from  conflicting  with  the  patriotic  spirit,  Catholicity 
fosters  and  protects  it.  Is  an  Irishman  less  Irish  because 
he  is  a  Catholic,  a  Spaniard  less  Spanish,  a  Frenchman 
less  French  because  he  is  a  Catholic?  On  the  contrary, 
a  man's  nationality  is  intensified  by  his  faith,  for  Catholicity 
inculcates  patriotism  not  as  a  sentiment  but  as  a  sacred 
duty;  and  if  an  American  is  a  Catholic,  or  rather  because 
he  is  one,  he  not  only  does  not  yield  to  any  man  in  love 
of  his  native  land,  but  impelled  by  the  teaching  of  his 
Church  will  be  more  loyal  and  more  self-sacrificing  in  time 
of  peace  or  stress  of  war  than  others  who  are  not  of  the 
faith. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  to  quote  the  opinion 


ONLY  TRUE  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  SYSTEM    147 

of  Senator  Hoar,  the  venerable  statesman,  whose  long  years 
of  noble  and  unselfish  devotion  to  the  country's  bests  in- 
terests entitle  him  to  a  hearing.  He  was  indorsing  the 
nomination  of  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts  and  in  re- 
ferring to  the  subject  of  anarchy  said:  "  I  believe  if  every 
Protestant  were  to  be  stricken  down  by  a  lightning  stroke, 
our  brethren  of  the  Catholic  faith  would  still  carry  on  the 
Republic  in  the  spirit  of  true  and  liberal  freedom.  I  believe 
if  every  man  of  native  birth  were  to  die  this  day,  the  men 
of  foreign  birth  who  have  come  here  to  seek  homes  and 
liberty  under  the  shadow  of  the  Republic  would  carry  on 
the  Republic  in  God's  appointed  way." 

The  Catholic  Church  has  no  designs  on  the  public  schools. 
It  is  satisfied  to  leave  them  as  they  are  for  those  who  wish 
them,  but  it  does  not  want  and  will  not  have  for  its  chil- 
dren, in  the  period  of  their  defencelessness,  an  education 
which  it  is  convinced  will  ultimately  make  these  children 
a  curse  to  their  country,  by  robbing  them  of  those  prin- 
ciples of  morality  which  are  indispensable  in  forming  them 
into  honorable  and  pure  men  and  women.  It  has  lost  too 
much,  even  here  in  America,  by  contact  with  irreligion;  it 
has  lived  too  long  in  the  world  not  to  know  that  religion 
is  necessary  to  prevent  the  ruin  of  a  nation,  and  it  has  too 
many  horrible  examples  in  the  crimes  of  the  apostate  gov- 
ernments of  to-day  to  allow  it  to  sit  idly  by  without  at- 
tempting to  prevent  similar  disasters  here.  It  will  not  be 
satisfied  with  the  odious  hour  after  school,  which  in  the 
child  mind  makes  religion  penal,  but  it  wants  the  atmos- 
phere of  its  schools  to  be  such  that  religion  will  enter  as 
a  motive  and  a  guide  of  what  is  to  be  done  and  avoided. 
It  wants  the  child  to  begin  to  be  what  he  ought  to  be  later 
on  in  life,  honest,  pure,  faithful  in  his  duty  to  his  God 
and  his  fellow-men,  as  the  light  of  his  religion  points  out 
and  as  its  sacramental  helps  assist  him  to  become.  It 
does  not  want  the  child  to  imagine  that  religion  is  an 


148  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

affair  of  Sunday  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  rest  of 
the  week.  It  does  not  comprehend  the  offer  of  a  well- 
known  President  of  a  Protestant  University  to  teach 
Catholicity  by  lectures.  Such  a  pretence  displays  a  de- 
plorable inability  to  appreciate  what  religion  really  is. 
Faith  is  not  truth  alone,  but  life. 

But  in  the  most  positive  and  aggressive  tones  we  are 
told:  "  Separate  schools  are  absolutely  out  of  the  question. 
What  we  want  is  homogeneity  of  education  in  order  to 
blend  the  diverse  nationalities  of  our  land  into  one  com- 
mon Americanism." 

It  may  be  noted  in  passing  that  this  proclamation  is 
often  made  by  men  who  have  had  no  public  school  edu- 
cation or  who  have  never  been  inside  American  schools 
at  all. 

To  this  challenge  we  reply  that  homogeneity  of  educa- 
tion is  absurd;  it  is  undemocratic,  it  is  socialistic,  it  is  un- 
American,  it  is  often  a  political  scheme,  and  it  is  unchris- 
tian and  irreligious. 

You  might  as  well  try  to  have  the  trees  of  the  forest 
with  the  same-sized  leaves;  you  might  as  well  insist  upon 
men  belonging  to  the  same  political  party,  or  pursuing  the 
same  occupation,  living  in  the  same  kind  of  house,  eating 
the  same  food,  or  wearing  the  same  style  of  dress,  or 
thinking  the  same  kind  of  thought,  and  arriving  at  the 
same  conclusions  by  the  same  methods.  You  have  no  more 
right  to  make  me  homogeneous  with  you  than  I  to  make 
you  homogeneous  with  me.  A  resemblance  sometimes  may 
be  very  undesirable.  The  strength  and  beauty  of  the  uni- 
verse and  of  everything  in  it,  whether  of  the  natural  or 
spiritual  order,  is  not  a  unity  of  monotony  and  sameness, 
but  a  unity  of  variety,  a  unity  achieved  by  an  authority 
and  influence  that  hold  the  infinitely  divergent  types  to- 
gether and  make  them  all  co-operate  to  a  common  end. 
In  that  the  beauty  of  the  world  consists,  but  our  apostles 


ONLY  TRUE  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  SYSTEM    149 

of  homogeneity  conceive  it  as  an  asphalt  road  over  which 
the  educational  roller  has  passed.  It  might  be  good  to 
remember  that  streets  of  tar,  in  spite  of  the  roller,  become 
rivers  of  fire  in  a  conflagration.  Bryce,  in  his  American 
Commonwealth,  pointed  out  that  "  our  greatest  social 
danger  lay  in  the  production  of  dead  levels."  Besides,  who 
are  you,  my  friend,  that  you  decide  offhand  that  your  type 
of  the  homogeneous  is  correct?  And  lastly,  why  are  you 
continually  proclaiming  that  the  aim  of  the  American  school 
is  to  develop  individuality,  while  in  the  same  breath  you 
demand  homogeneity?  The  two  qualities  are  contradictory. 

Secondly,  the  scheme  is  violently  undemocratic.  If  homo- 
geneity of  education  is  really  and  honestly  essential  for 
true  Americanism,  then  abolish  forthwith  all  your  great 
institutions  like  Yale  and  Harvard,  which  are  supposed 
to  differentiate  their  pupils,  socially  at  least,  from  all  other 
Americans,  and  which  are  even  differentiated  from  each 
other  in  tone  and  tradition.  The  "  Yale  spirit  "  is  not 
Harvard's,  nor  Harvard's  Princetonls,  nor  Princeton's 
Cornell's. 

More  than  that.  Close  all  your  expensive  private  schools 
which  are  established  everywhere  by  Americans,  yet  which 
are  so  many  sacred  and  inviolable  preserves  for  the  chil- 
dren of  the  rich  —  for  no  plebeian  enters  there  —  and 
dismiss  your  private  governess  or  be  ready  to  let  the  public 
official  knock  at  your  door  and  inquire  if  what  she  teaches 
corresponds  in  time  and  matter  with  the  programme  of 
the  State.  Does  this  seem  absurd?  It  is  done  in  Germany 
now,  and  such  inspection  was  seriously  proposed  in  a  recent 
school  law  before  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New 
York.  If  your  rich  man  does  not  send  his  children  to  the 
public  school  lest  they  should  sit  side  by  side  with  the  chil- 
dren of  his  servants  or  of  the  mechanic  or  laborer,  why 
should  I  not  be  allowed  (not  that  I  avoid  the  poor,  for 
we  are  mostly  poor)  to  withdraw  mine  for  greater  than 


1 50  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

social  or  sanitary  reasons?  Or  does  the  scheme  propose 
that  only  the  children  of  the  poor  should  be  thus  homo- 
geneously huddled  together?  If  so,  and  such  is  its  intent, 
it  is  class  legislation;  it  is  undemocratic  and  unjust. 

Thirdly,  homogeneity  is  a  foreign  importation.  It  is 
French  and  not  American.  It  is  precisely  what  Waldeck 
Rousseau  is  imposing  on  France  with  an  iron  hand  at  the 
present  moment.  He  uses  the  same  shibboleth  of  homo- 
geneity and  is  perpetrating  this  great  crime  of  the  century 
by  robbery  and  expatriation.  It  is  the  old  political  scheme 
of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  who  carried  it  out  so  vigorously 
that  his  Minister  of  Education  could  boast  that  at  any  hour 
of  the  day  he  could  tell  what  every  child  in  France  was 
reciting.  And  the  project  of  a  national  university  in  the 
United  States  with  its  centre  in  Washington,  as  mooted 
here,  is  nothing  but  a  recrudescence  of  that  discredited 
foreign  plan  of  intellectual  and  political  slavery.  We  ob- 
ject to  all  this  homogeneity,  whether  in  nation,  state,  or 
city,  because  it  is  absolutely  un-American,  because  it  is  state 
socialism  and  because,  just  as  Bonaparte  brutally  declared 
that  the  fundamental  purpose  of  his  national  university 
was  to  inculcate  loyalty  to  the  Napoleonic  dynasty,  so  in 
the  same  way  homogeneity  in  city,  state,  or  nation  will 
tend  infallibly  to  perpetuate  the  sway  of  the  political  party 
that  happens  to  be  in  power.  In  point  of  fact,  the  declara- 
tion of  the  National  Educational  Association,  which  is  fur- 
thering this  project,  bluntly  avows  that  its  purpose  is  "  to 
lead  public  sentiment  into  legislation  when  necessary." 
This  is  novel  in  America  and  is  not  American.  We  object 
to  it  most  emphatically  for  educational  reasons  also;  be- 
cause just  as  the  Napoleonic  university  has  wrecked  genuine 
education  throughout  France,  as  official  investigations  have 
shown,  the  same  results  are  sure  to  follow  here  if  this 
scheme  is  carried  out.  No  better  proof  of  it  could  be 
given  than  the  very  Declaration  which  is  launched  by  this 


ONLY  TRUE  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  SYSTEM    151 

National  Association  of  American  Education.  Its  framers 
style  themselves  "  educational  experts,"  and  yet  are  guilty 
in  several  parts  of  the  document  of  an  obscurity  of  thought, 
an  inconsequence  of  reasoning,  and  an  incorrectness  of 
language  which,  to  some  extent  at  least,  ought  to  discredit 
their  claim  to  be  "  experts  "  in  education. 

We  object  to  it  likewise  for  patriotic  reasons.  And  this 
position  of  ours  ought  to  have  especial  force  at  this  ter- 
rible moment  of  our  country's  history.  We  find  in  the 
New  York  Herald  of  September  12,  1901,  that  the  fourth 
article  in  the  anarchist  programme  is  "  unreligious  schools." 
Is  not  that  reason  enough  to  multiply  our  religious  schools 
as  a  breakwater,  and  to  force  all  men  to  co-operate  in  that 
federation  of  churches  which  is  called  for  by  some  of  the 
most  distinguished  men  in  New  York  (New  York  Sun, 
September  12,  1901),  "  in  behalf  of  the  spiritual,  physical, 
educational,  and  social  interests  of  family  life."  We  have 
all  along  seen  the  perils  which  are  now  striking  such  terror 
into  the  heart  of  the  country. 

Lastly,  it  is  idle  to  say  that  the  homogeneity  intended 
is  merely  one  of  language  or  of  Americanism.  Can  these 
results  not  be  achieved  just  as  well  in  denominational 
schools?  Diversity  of  language  among  the  children  of  the 
immigrants  need  not  worry  us.  A  walk  in  Mulberry  Street, 
in  the  Italian  quarter,  will  convince  us  that  the  sidewalk 
does  more  than  the  school  in  that  respect.  The  children 
of  the  second  or  even  of  the  first  generation  do  not  speak 
the  language  of  their  parents.  Nor  do  they  want  to  be 
Americans  with  a  prefix.  They  are  not  German  or  Irish 
or  Italian  Americans,  but  just  as  ardent  Americans  as  those 
whose  parents  were  immigrants  a  hundred  years  ago.  That 
is  not  the  result  about  which  any  sensible  man  should  con- 
cern himself,  but  there  is  one  which  must  inevitably  follow 
as  a  consequence  of  this  unintelligent  jumbling  together 
of  the  children  of  divergent  and  conflicting  religious  be- 


152  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

liefs,  a  result  which  we  dare  .not  say  was  intended  or 
perhaps  even  foreseen  by  the  majority  of  our  people,  but 
which,  nevertheless,  as  Protestant  educators  all  over  the 
land,  as  well  as  Protestant  bishops  and  ministers,  are  point- 
ing out,  is  threatening  the  very  existence  of  the  nation; 
a  homogeneity,  namely,  not  of  language  nor  of  American- 
ism, but  a  homogeneity  of  irreligion;  the  elimination  and 
practical  negation  of  all  Christian  beliefs  during  five  con- 
secutive days  of  every  week  of  the  child's  life,  with  noth- 
ing to  counteract  it  on  Sunday;  for  these  children,  like  their 
parents,  are  not  church-goers.  It  is  the  cancelling  of 
Christianity  from  the  life  of  the  nation.  This  is  homo- 
geneity. Is  it  Americanism?  And  are  we  to  be  looked 
upon  with  suspicion  because  we  do  not  send  our  million 
of  children  to  join  the  throng  upon  whom  this  robbery  is 
being  committed? 

Perhaps  you  have  not  intended  or  foreseen  it  here;  but 
it  looks  as  if  you  have,  for  you  are  ruthlessly  at  work 
with  the  same  axe  in  the  Philippines,  where  without  diver- 
sity of  sects  to  excuse  you  —  for  they  are  all  Catholics 
there  —  without  the  plea  of  an  ignorant  population  —  for 
they  are  better  educated  than  many  of  our  own  natives  — 
in  spite  of  promises  and  treaties  and  merely  to  satisfy  the 
demands  of  this  blind  idolatry,  you  flood  the  country  with 
teachers  who  cannot  fail  to  sneer  at  the  religion  of  their 
pupils  in  spite  of  your  injunctions  to  the  contrary,  and  you 
contemptuously  sweep  out  of  their  schoolrooms  every  sym- 
bol of  Catholic  faith  with  the  necessary  result  of  dis- 
paraging it  in  the  eyes  of  the  children.  This  is  homo- 
geneity. Is  it  Americanism?  Be  quite  sure  that  if  you 
make  bad  Catholics  out  of  the  Filipinos  you  will  not  make 
them  good  Americans. 

Meantime,  in  those  same  regions,  you  not  only  do  not 
interfere  in  the  slightest  with  the  subjects  of  the  Sultan 
of  Sulu,  who  are  nothing  but  degraded  Mahometans  and 


ONLY  TRUE  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  SYSTEM    153 

who  practise  their  religion,  polygamy  included;  you  do  not 
force  upon  them  your  homogeneous  education,  but  care- 
fully and  by  law  protect  them  in  all  they  choose  to  do, 
along  with  their  horrible  institution  of  slavery.  Is  that 
Americanism?  Is  it  Americanism  to  treat  your  fellow- 
Christians  worse  than  idolaters  and  Mahometans?  It  is 
not  even  homogeneity. 

We  blush  for  the  illiberality,  bigotry,  and  injustice  of 
our  countrymen  both  here  and  abroad,  or  at  least  for  their 
inability  to  see  what  they  are  doing,  and  we  wonder  what 
has  become  of  our  famous  American  boast,  "  Americans 
love  fair  play."  Or  is  it  all  bluster? 

That  we  are  permitting  ourselves,  blindly  or  not,  to 
be  dechristianized  is  clear  from  the  Report  of  the  Na- 
tional Educational  Association  held  in  Chicago,  February 
27,  1900,  where  this  dreadful  utterance  was  made,  appar- 
ently assented  to  by  the  Association  and  published  subse- 
quently in  the  Educational  Review  over  the  signature  of 
Nicholas  Murray  Butler,  of  Columbia  College,  New  York. 

"  Five  men,"  it  declares,  "  Rousseau,  Hegel,  Froebel, 
Pestalozzi,  and  Herbart,  have  given  to  the  nineteenth- 
century  education  most  of  its  philosophical  foundation  and 
not  a  few  of  its  methods.  From  them  have  come  the  main 
influences  which  have  shaped  education  for  a  hundred 
years."  In  amazement  and  distress  we  may  well  apply  to 
the  National  Educational  Association,  which  formulated  this 
statement  or  permitted  it,  the  words  of  Christ  on  the  cross : 
"  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do." 

Putting  aside  Pestalozzi  and  Froebel,  who  were  per- 
sonal failures  as  educators,  we  find  in  this  list  Hegel,  who 
was  a  frantic  pantheist;  Herbart,  who  was  a  disciple  of 
that  other  pantheist  Fichte  and  who  said  of  God  that  "  He 
could  not  be  known  and  for  practical  purposes  it  was  not 
desirable  that  He  should  be  ";  and  at  the  head  of  the  list 
we  find  to  our  horror  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau,  who  is 


154  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

properly  put  as  the  chief  coryphaeus  in  this  national  dance 
of  death. 

Listen  to  what  he  says,  if  you  can  do  so  with  patience. 
"  The  child  who  is  being  educated  is  to  acknowledge  no 
authority.  If  you  compel  him  to  take  your  word,  you  teach 
him  to  be  a  dupe  later  on  in  life;  he  is  to  indulge  his  de- 
sires unchecked,"  —  gluttony  is  given  as  an  example,  and 
he  says,  "  even  if  the  child  harms  himself,  do  not  reprove 
him  "  —  which  implies  that  of  course  he  is  to  be  given 
free  rein  in  the  other  cravings  of  nature;  self-love  is  the 
only  natural  quality  to  be  recognized  in  the  child  and  not 
only  indulged  but  cultivated;  he  should  hear  nothing  what- 
ever about  God;  he  is  to  be  inspired  with  contempt  for 
the  ministers  of  religion,  who  ought  to  be  expelled  from 
the  community,  as  not  only  useless  but  pernicious  to  the 
State.  "  If  I  had  to  paint  a  picture  of  disgusting  stupidity," 
he  says,  "  I  would  paint  a  pedant  teaching  catechism  to  his 
pupils;  and  if  I  wanted  to  make  a  child  a  fool,  I  would 
oblige  him  to  explain  what  he  says  in  reciting  his  catechism. 
Getting  him  to  accept  mysteries  is  accustoming  him  early 
to  lie."  He  is  not  to  be  taught  any  religion,  and  if  there 
is  to  be  a  common  creed  it  must  be  made  up  of  the  funda- 
mental dogmas  of  Judaism,  Mahometanism,  and  Christian- 
ity, and  the  one  who  shall  teach  anything  contrary  to  it 
is  to  be  banished  from  the  country.  The  pupil  must  be 
taught  that  the  exercise  of  authority  is  tyranny;  the  pos- 
session of  property,  robbery,  and  the  laws  of  the  nation 
fetters  on  his  liberty. 

These  are  Rousseau's  own  words,  who,  be  it  remembered, 
was  a  man  whose  life  was  disgustingly  immoral,  and  who 
in  one  of  his  books  was  shameless  enough  to  enter  into 
the  most  lubricous  details  of  what  he  did.  His  teaching 
openly  and  professedly  inculcates  immorality,  atheism, 
anarchy,  and  of  course,  by  an  immediate  deduction,  assas- 
sination. And  yet  we  are  told  by  the  National  Educational 


ONLY  TRUE  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  SYSTEM    155 

Association  that  "  his  is  the  main  influence  which  has  shaped 
the  education  of  the  nineteenth  century." 

Do  you  want  your  children  to  be  educated  under  such 
influences?  Do  you  want  them  to  be  the  future  anarchists 
who  will  wreck  the  domestic  and  political  fabric  of  this 
country,  and  be  the  frenzied  assassins  who  will  assert 
their  contempt  for  all  authority  by  putting  bullets  in  the 
bodies  of  your  future  Presidents,  and  who  will  surely,  if 
God  does  not  intervene,  bring  about  the  same  horrors  in 
this  country  as  the  teachings  of  this  very  man  effected  in 
France  a  hundred  years  ago  in  causing  that  almost  dia- 
bolical uprising,  the  French  Revolution? 

If  you  do,  we  Catholics  do  not;  and  for  that  reason  we 
want  religious  education.  That  is  our  only  reason  for 
opposing  the  system  which,  in  our  opinion,  if  the  National 
Educational  Association's  programme  alone  be  taken  as  a 
test,  although  there  are  many  others  at  hand  to  excite 
the  same  fear,  is  an  awful  menace  to  our  country.  The 
New  York  Herald  of  September  22  in  a  striking  cartoon 
represents  a  little  girl  as  standing  before  the  door  of  a 
public  school  which  is  shut  against  her  because  of  the  in- 
ability of  the  State  to  give  her  an  elementary  education, 
and  she  is  uttering  the  words,  "  I  see  this  country's  finish." 
No,  poor  child !  not  because  you  cannot  learn  a  little  spell- 
ing or  arithmetic  do  you  "  see  this  country's  finish."  It 
is  better  for  you  to  remain  out  on  the  street,  if  inside  the 
school  the  principles  are  taught  and  the  methods  adopted 
of  those  enemies  of  God  and  humanity  who  revile  author- 
ity, despise  religion,  and  blaspheme  God.  We  hope  that 
the  statement  of  the  National  Educational  Association  is 
not  universally  true,  but  if  that  influence  prevails  then  not 
merely  every  sensible  man  but  even  the  child  at  the  door 
can  truly  say,  "  I  see  this  country's  finish." 

Appalled  by  the  recent  disaster  that  has  befallen  the 
nation  in  the  assassination  of  the  President,  there  is  already 


156  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

talk  of  a  common  religion  being  taught  in  the  public  schools, 
and  it  is  strongly  urged  by  prominent  Protestant  clergy- 
men and  even  by  a  bishop.  This  is  nothing  but  Rousseau's 
idea  and  a  furthering  of  his  infamous  project.  It  is  the 
modern  substitute  for  State  paganism.  When  the  Caesars 
were  perplexed  by  the  multitudes  of  beliefs  in  the  world, 
they  obtained  uniformity  of  worship  by  commanding  an 
universal  worship  of  the  State.  That  hastened  the  ruin 
of  the  Empire.  Caesarism  of  any  kind,  especially  in  reli- 
gious matters,  is  dangerous  in  a  nation,  but  most  of  all  in 
a  free  republic.  Moreover,  any  such  mad  scheme  is  ab- 
solutely unrealizable.  It  is  a  pagan  idea  and  has  been 
revived  in  modern  times  by  one  who  hated  both  religion 
and  the  State.  Because  we  love  our  country  we  oppose 
that  project.  It  is  un-American  and  unchristian. 

It  is  especially,  we  insist,  because  of  this  feature  that 
Catholics  are  antagonistic  not,  remember,  to  the  public 
schools  as  such,  but  as  they  are  at  present  conducted.  Am 
I  not  perfectly  within  my  rights?  Am  I  not  wise  and 
prudent  and  sincerely  and  truly  patriotic?  At  the  very 
moment  that  the  leading  Protestant  educationalists  through- 
out the  land  are  clamoring  for  religion  in  education  as  a 
safeguard  for  the  Republic,  I  find  that  under  the  pretext 
of  homogeneity  and  fictitious  Americanism  there  is  a  scheme 
to  rob  my  child,  in  the  hours  that  he  is  away  from  me, 
of  what  I  regard  as  his  best  possession;  to  cheat  him  out 
of  what  I  have  labored  to  put  in  his  little  mind,  the  reli- 
gion, namely,  for  which  I  have  paid  so  dearly,  and  on 
account  of  which  I  am  still  suffering.  Meantime,  I  ask 
myself,  why,  if  I  am  endeavoring  to  bring  up  my  child  a 
Christian,  I  should  be  punished  for  it?  And  why  from 
the  schools  which  I  support  should  Christianity  be  ostra- 
cized? Are  we  not  being  dechristianized  rapidly  enough 
without  having  our  public  servants  at  high  salaries  acceler- 
ate the  work? 


ONLY  TRUE  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  SYSTEM    157 

But  I  am  told,  "  You  are  not  compelled  to  send  your 
children  to  the  public  schools."  If  I  cannot  avoid  doing 
so  except  at  a  considerable  expense,  I  am.  Surely  that  is 
compelling  me.  "  Do  you  expect  the  State,  then,  to  pay 
for  your  schools?"  "Certainly."  "Never,"  I  am  an- 
swered promptly  and  harshly;  "  not  a  penny  of  the  public 
funds  for  sectarian  purposes."  "  Softly,  Mr.  Official,  if 
it  is  public  money,  I  have  a  right  to  my  share.  I  am  of  the 
people.  You  are  the  servant  and  not  the  proprietor,  and 
are  to  distribute  the  public  funds  justly  and  not  according 
to  your  moods  and  prejudices."  "  It  is  no  prejudice,"  is 
the  reply;  "  it  is  against  the  whole  spirit  of  the  country 
to  pay  for  the  support  of  any  religious  theory.  You  might 
as  well  ask  us  to  support  your  churches."  (New  York 
Sun,  September  16,  1901.)  "As  to  its  being  against  the 
whole  spirit  of  the  country  we  may  disagree,  but  do  not 
worry  about  the  churches.  The  c  religious  theory '  is 
taught  there,  and  nothing  else.  We  are  not  asking  you 
to  help  them.  But  in  the  schools  it  is  different.  I  am  giv- 
ing all  the  secular  training  that  is  given  in  the  State  schools. 
Why  should  not  that  be  paid  for?  As  for  teaching  the 
religious  theory,  I  '11  pay  for  that."  "  But  you  must  pay 
the  public  school  tax  like  everyone  else."  "  Every  dollar 
of  it;  only  I  object  to  paying  it  twice,  which  no  one  else 
does.  But  if  I  teach  my  children  the  same  things  that  are 
taught  in  the  common  schools  and  teach  them  better,  and 
add,  over  and  above,  of  my  own  volition  and  at  my  own 
expense,  something  which  not  only  elevates  their  characters 
as  men  and  women,  but  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  coun- 
try's salvation;  if  I  make  them  genuine  Americans  and 
base  their  patriotism  on  a  more  solid  foundation  than  you 
can;  if  while  you  are  compelled  to  accept  any  teacher  that 
may  be  foisted  on  you  by  political  or  other  influences, 
whether  he  be  a  Christian  or  a  scoffer,  and  about  whose 
manner  of  life  I  have  only  your  guarantee,  whose  opinion 


1 58  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

I  possibly  may  not  value,  while  I  can  select  those  of  whose 
abilities  and  exalted  character  I  am  almost  absolutely  sure; 
if  you  are  guided  in  your  system  by  incapable  men  whose 
whole  time  is  taken  up  in  commercial  pursuits  or  political 
schemes,  while  I  am  enjoying  the  privilege  of  the  learning 
and  experience  of  those  whose  whole  life  is  not  only  de- 
voted but  consecrated  to  the  work;  if  with  all  that  I  am 
perfectly  willing  to  admit  government  inspectors,  either  of 
the  building  or  of  the  requirements  of  hygiene,  and  even 
of  the  studies  (barring,  of  course,  religion,  with  which  the 
State  has  nothing  to  do),  why,  pray,  when  I  am  conferring 
such  inestimable  advantages  on  the  State,  which  even  those 
who  are  not  friendly  to  me  acknowledge,  should  I  not  get 
the  benefit  of  the  school  tax  which  I  pay  to  the  State? 
This  is  what  puzzles  me.  That  I  am  a  sectarian  is  none 
of  your  business;  that  I  am  an  American  citizen  ought  to 
insure  me  my  rights.  As  to  the  '  garb  '  of  my  teachers, 
that  is  as  much  my  privilege  as  it  is  the  State's  to  uniform 
its  letter-carriers,  or  a  private  corporation  its  officials.  But 
more  than  that,  I  am  taught  in  American  history  that  my 
country  severed  its  connection  with  England  because  it  was 
taxed  without  representation,  that  is  to  say,  because  it  was 
left  without  the  power  of  determining  how  the  taxes  which 
were  levied  on  them  should  be  applied;  but  now  I  discover 
that  you,  who  are  presumably  not  an  Englishman,  not  only 
do  not  permit  me  to  say  how  they  should  be  applied,  but 
you  give  my  money  to  somebody  else.  Is  this  a  new  phase 
of  Americanism?  If  I  were  a  criminal  I  could  understand 
how  I  should  be  debarred,  but  I  am  an  honest,  hard-working 
man  for  whom  every  dollar  counts,  who  never  have  been 
before  the  courts,  who  have  the  interests  of  my  country 
at  heart,  who  never  can  get  away  from  it  like  my  rich 
friends,  who  have  never  stopped  at  any  sacrifice  to  bring 
up  my  children  honestly;  and  if  I,  with  my  coreligionists, 
have  spent  millions  of  money  to  give  them  the  education 


ONLY  TRUE  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  SYSTEM    159 

which  the  wisest  men  in  the  land,  Protestants  as  well  as 
Catholics,  admit  now  to  be  not  merely  the  best  but  the  only 
safeguard  of  my  country,  because  it  inculcates  religion,  why 
should  I  not  be  fairly  and  squarely  dealt  with  and  get  the 
benefit  of  what  is  levied  on  me  for  education?" 

"  It  cannot  be  done,"  you  say.  "  It  is  impossible  to 
make  any  such  division."  "Amazing!  You  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  collecting  the  funds  in  spite  of  the  diversity  of  the 
sources  from  which  they  are  derived;  and  when  I  take  up 
my  paper  in  the  morning  I  read  that  the  Board  of  Ap- 
portionment regularly  and  without  trouble  assigns  money 
to  hospitals,  asylums,  roads,  lamp-posts,  schools,  etc.  Is 
there  any  insuperable  difficulty  in  proceeding  further  with 
the  division,  or  is  the  famous  American  instinct  for  mathe- 
matics disappearing?  Can  you  divide  by  two,  but  must 
you  no  longer  be  asked  to  divide  by  four?  Besides,  you 
exempt  these  schools  from  taxation  because  of  the  benefits 
they  confer  on  the  Commonwealth.  That  is  subsidizing 
them.  That  is  paying  money  for  their  support  out  of  the 
public  purse.  You  admit  the  principle.  What  is  to  pre- 
vent you,  then,  from  doing  a  little  more  and  making  your 
recognition  keep  pace  with  the  good  you  receive?  He  is 
not  a  very  generous  man  who  is  satisfied  that  I  should 
enrich  him  and  who  takes  all  I  give  without  thanks.  One 
ought  to  pay  for  what  he  gets." 

Moreover,  the  distribution  is  very  feasible.  For  the  last 
few  years  we  have  been  wearied  to  death  by  hearing  that 
we  are  all  Anglo-Saxon  and  that  our  education  especially 
has  that  stamp  on  it. 

If  that  be  really  so,  why  can  we  not  do  what  Anglo- 
Saxon  countries  are  doing  in  this  respect,  namely,  England 
and  Germany,  which  are  not  only  intensely  Protestant,  but 
where  Protestantism  is  the  State  religion,  to  attack  which 
or  even  to  differ  from  which  was  at  one  time  high  treason? 
England  has  its  denominational  schools;  the  various  sects 


160  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

insist  on  having  them;  the  Protestant  bishops  in  a  recent 
memorial  affirmed  as  a  principle  that  all  elementary  edu- 
cation should  be  paid  for  from  the  public  funds;  and  the 
Government  not  only  does  not  object  but  assists  most  lib- 
erally. It  has  no  fear  of  Englishmen  lacking  the  proper 
kind  of  homogeneity. 

Even  in  Calvinistic  Scotland,  which  has  been  notoriously 
rancorous  against  Catholicity  since  the  Reformation,  a  simi- 
lar and  even  better  condition  obtains. 

The  London  Tablet  of  August  3,  1901,  reports  Mr. 
Balfour  as  saying  in  Parliament:  "  I  come  from  a  country 
in  which  education  is  under  popular  control.  It  is  almost 
universally  religious;  and  not  only  that,  but  it  is  dogmatic. 
It  knows  nothing  of  the  strange  compromises  which  are 
the  subjects  of  debate  in  the  English  school  boards. 
Frankly  under  proper  control  in  Scotland  are  taught  the 
Shorter  Catechism  in  the  great  majority  of  schools,  the 
Anglican  Catechism  in  other  schools,  and  Roman  Catholic 
Theology  in  still  others.  So  that  we  have  dogmatic  theol- 
ogy reconciled  with  that  popular  control  which  the  right 
honorable  gentleman  desires."  Could  we  ask  more  from 
bitter  old  Scotia? 

What  is  most  convincing  is  that  in  Germany,  which  is 
admittedly  the  greatest  Protestant  nation  of  the  world 
and  which  distinguished  itself  by  a  relentless  persecution 
of  Catholicity  a  generation  ago,  the  Government  not  only 
permits  but  fosters  separate  schools  for  the  various  sects 
of  the  Empire,  Catholicity  included. 

With  them  education  without  religion  is  inconceivable, 
and  the  Government  insists  upon  it  even  against  the  will 
of  the  parents;  so  much  so  that  in  a  recent  case  where  a 
Socialist  protested  against  religious  instruction,  the  court 
ruled  that  the  child  should  be  sent  to  the  school  of  the 
denomination  which  the  father  had  left.  Laymen  are 
trained  especially  for  the  work  of  teaching  catechism,  and 


ONLY  TRUE  AMERICAN  SCHOOL  SYSTEM    161 

in  the  case  of  Catholic  schools  the  priest  is  generally  school 
inspector,  and  the  parish  priest  has  the  right  to  enter  dur- 
ing school  hours  and  teach;  which  he  generally  does  once 
or  twice  a  week.  In  the  several  hundred  neutral  or  mixed 
schools  religion  is  part  of  the  curriculum.  The  same  holds 
good  for  colleges  or  gymnasia  where  religious  instruction 
is  obligatory. 

What  is  most  curious  about  it  all  is  that  during  the  per- 
secution of  the  Kulturkampf,  while  Bismarck  was  shutting 
up  churches  and  sending  bishops  and  priests  to  exile  or 
prison,  the  schools  were  not  interfered  with.  Had  he  done 
so,  Catholicity  would  have  been  obliterated  from  Germany. 
It  was  God  who  prevented  him,  for  in  such  an  event  Ger- 
many would  not  now  have  its  staunch  Catholic  defenders 
against  socialism  and  anarchy.  The  great  Protestant  Em- 
pire did  not  fear  to  have  its  ruler  appoint  a  Catholic 
Chancellor  who  was  the  brother  of  a  Roman  Cardinal. 
We  broad-minded  Americans  are  a  long  distance  from  that 
attitude  of  good  sense. 

What  do  our  fellow  countrymen  want?  Religion  is  in- 
dispensable for  the  salvation  of  the  nation.  It  is  not  taught 
to  the  vast  majority  of  the  people  in  the  churches.  Prac- 
tically it  can  be  taught  only  in  the  schools.  The  most  con- 
spicuous men  among  us,  clergy  and  laity  alike,  of  all  de- 
nominations, demand  that  it  must  be  taught  there,  or  we 
are  lost;  and  that  a  religion  must  be  taught  which  is  not 
a  composite  hodge-podge  of  all  religions,  namely,  a  natural 
religion  which  has  been  pronounced  by  the  most  competent 
educational  authorities  to  be  "  fatuous  "  and,  after  being 
tried,  a  miserable  failure.  Lastly,  it  is  beyond  all  question 
true,  that  the  establishment  of  separate  religious  schools 
is  feasible;  for  the  most  intensely  Protestant  nations  of 
the  world  insist  upon  them,  have  no  difficulty  in  adjusting 
themselves  to  the  diversity  of  creeds,  and  have  found  by 
experience  that  instead  of  dividing  the  country  the  method 


1 62  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

welds  it  together  by  permitting  men  to  have  their  dogmatic 
differences,  while  at  the  same  time  inducing  them  to  make 
their  otherwise  conflicting  sects  unite,  each  in  its  own  way, 
to  swell  the  great  current  of  morality,  which,  precisely 
because  it  comes  from  these  different  and  distinct  sources, 
reaches,  as  nothing  else  can,  every  class  and  condition  of 
society. 

Are  we  to  confess  ourselves  inferior  to  Germany,  Eng- 
land, and  Scotland  in  practical  matters?  Are  we,  perhaps, 
intellectually  dull,  or  have  we  grown  to  be  unfair;  or  in 
spite  of  the  present  alarming  condition  of  things  are  we 
losing  our  senses? 

We  have  indeed  lost  our  senses  to  some  extent;  but  the 
awful  crisis  through  which  we  are  passing  has  revealed 
to  us  the  precipice  yawning  at  our  feet.  As  for  ability  in 
practical  matters,  we  have  it  to  a  greater  degree  than  other 
people  and  can  more  easily  adjust  ourselves  to  circum- 
stances; and  lastly,  though  perhaps  misinformed,  we  are 
not  wilfully  unfair.  It  can  be  safely  admitted  that  if  these 
truths  are  placed  squarely  before  the  American  people  they 
will  frankly  acknowledge  and  honestly  admit  them.  But 
this  is  to  be  done,  not  by  underhand  methods,  not  by  dicker- 
ing with  politicians  who  will  smile  and  smile  and  promise 
and  then  leave  us  on  our  back  as  helpless  as  before,  but 
by  reiterating  our  position  and  compelling  the  people  to 
see  that  our  demand  for  religious  education  is  not  prompted 
by  any  sinister  design  against  our  fellow  countrymen  or 
their  liberties,  but  by  an  ineradicable  conscientious  convic- 
tion, which  events  are  proving  to  be  well  founded,  that 
religion  is  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  our  country, 
that  it  must  be  implanted  in  the  hearts  and  the  lives  of 
the  growing  generation,  and  that  there  is  no  other  way 
of  doing  it  than  by  resorting  to  the  rational,  feasible,  and 
the  now  widely  admitted  method  of  teaching  it  in  the 
separate  schools  of  the  various  denominations. 


Golden  Jubilee  of  St.  Francis 
Xavier's  Church 

New  York,  December  5,  1901 

WHAT  mysterious  power  is  it  that  enables  us 
to  call  up  persons  and  places  and  events  from 
the  almost  measureless  depths  of  the  past  and 
make  them  live  again  with  a  brightness  and  beauty  and 
tenderness  which  thev  scarcely  possessed  when  actually 
forming  a  portion  of  our  lives?  Have  the  impressions 
they  produced  been  laid  up,  as  it  were,  in  some  vast  spiritual 
treasure  house  to  be  taken  out  and  admired  at  will?  Or 
have  the  energies  of  the  soul  something  akin  to  a  creative 
power,  to  summon  them  forth  from  the  nothingness  into 
which  they  have  long  since  passed,  and,  by  pronouncing  a 
fiat,  make  them  be  again?  Whatever  the  explanation  of 
it  may  be,  that  marvellous  faculty  of  memory,  especially 
on  great  anniversaries  like  this,  converts  our  dead  past 
into  a  living  present,  obliterates  the  traces  which  time  has 
made  upon  our  years,  and,  helping  us  to  forget  that  we 
are  old,  restores  the  bloom  of  the  young  days  when  we 
stood  on  the  threshold  of  life  and  looked  out  to  what 
seemed  the  far  distant  period  of  where  we  now  are. 

To  us  who  were  here  fifty  years  ago  the  beloved  little 
church  which  stood  to  the  east  of  the  present  edifice,  and 
which  lingered  awhile  by  its  side  after  its  sacredness  had 
been  transferred  to  its  more  splendid  successor,  will  ever 
keep  a  sacredness  of  its  own  in  our  hearts,  and  shine  with 
perhaps  a  brighter  radiance  than  when  we  knelt  before 
its  altars.  The  gravity  of  its  undecorated  front  of  free- 
stone which  recalled  the  facade  of  the  great  church  of  the 


1 64  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

Gesu  in  Rome,  of  which  it  was  an  humble  and  far-away 
copy,  gave  a  character  to  the  edifice  in  the  lines  of  its 
architecture,  and  an  indication  of  the  special  religious  for- 
mation of  those  who  labored  within  its  walls.  The  three 
great  portals  which  seemed  immensely  wide  in  those  days, 
the  huge  blocks  of  stone  which  divided  the  steps  and  the 
outer  railing  just  as  now,  only  smaller  and  without  the 
portico  above,  rise  up  frequently  before  us,  but  to-day  are 
invested  with  a  more  than  usually  vivid  reality  and  far- 
reaching  significance.  We  are  almost  treading  again  the 
long  passage-way  that  led  up  to  the  poor  little  parlor,  where 
the  kindliness  and  the  courtesy  of  the  devoted  and  holy 
old  porter,  Brother  Letique,  introduced  many  a  sorrow- 
laden  soul  to  the  fathers,  who  were  ever  ready,  day  and 
night,  with  words  of  consolation,  warning,  or  advice. 

That  passage,  with  its  well-patronized  hydrant  midway, 
led  past,  not  the  lower  church,  as  such  places  are  now 
called,  but  the  basement,  dark,  dingy,  and  poorly  furnished, 
but  very  dear  to  the  old  people  of  St.  Francis  Xavier's 
in  many  inexpressible  ways.  As  you  entered  the  door  you 
found  yourself  in  the  boys'  library,  not  much  to  boast  of, 
it  must  be  confessed,  in  the  light  of  modern  luxury  and 
abundance,  but  valuable  and  greatly  esteemed  in  those 
simpler  days.  Beyond  on  the  other  side  was  the  library 
for  the  girls,  with  the  primitive  and  necessarily  untidy  fur- 
nace between;  but  we  paid  scant  attention  to  such  trifles 
in  the  fifties.  The  rest  of  that  dear  old  basement  or 
cellar,  for  it  was  little  else,  was  the  chapel  proper,  with 
its  three  modest  altars,  the  confessionals  on  either  side  with 
their  green  baize  curtains,  and  the  benches  of  common 
pine,  which  we  all  thought  good  enough  then.  There  the 
early  and  week  day  Masses  were  said;  there  the  sodalities 
met;  there  the  Sunday  school  was  taught,  and  the  famous 
special  lessons  of  catechism  were  given  on  Wednesday 
nights,  when  first  communion  time  drew  near.  How  well 


JUBILEE,  ST.  FRANCIS  XAVIER'S  CHURCH     165 

I  remember  the  privilege  accorded  to  the  best  boy  of  ac- 
companying the  Blessed  Sacrament  after  those  night  in- 
structions up  through  the  dark  passage  behind  the  altar 
when  the  priest  carried  the  sacred  vessels  to  the  upper 
church;  how  clearly  stands  out  to-day  the  very  place  where 
I  made  my  first  confession,  and  I  almost  feel,  after  this 
long  lapse  of  years,  the  kindly  touch  of  the  hand  of  dear 
old  Father  Schneider  on  my  arm,  as  he  reached  around 
probably  to  revive  my  sinking  courage  or  help  my  stam- 
mering tongue  to  find  utterance;  or  the  boyish  pride  when 
sitting  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Boys'  Sodality  away  back 
in  '59  or  '60. 

Among  the  figures  that  arise  there  are,  first  of  all,  those 
of  the  holy  and  devoted  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  who, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  beloved  Mother  Moser,  left 
their  conventual  enclosure  for  God's  glory,  to  come  and 
labor  day  after  day  for  three  years  in  a  place  which  must 
have  been  a  perpetual  menace  to  their  health,  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  the  parochial  school  of -Eighteenth  Street, 
in  which  through  all  these  years  they  have  trained  up  gen- 
eration after  generation  of  noble,  pure,  self-sacrificing  girls, 
and  have  for  that  reason  wound  themselves  around  the 
hearts  of  their  pupils  by  ties  that  will  only  grow  more 
loving  and  tender  with  time.  They  have  laid  upon  us  a 
debt  of  gratitude  by  their  devoted  labor  as  well  as  by  their 
marvellous  success  as  teachers  which  this  parish  will  never 
forget  and  never  can  repay. 

But  there  is  one  form  that  seems  to  linger  there  more 
than  any  other;  one  dearest  of  all  and  most  beloved,  whose 
presence  seems  to  permeate  and  fill  that  old  basement; 
one  who  has  seized  upon  so  many  hearts  and  made  them 
his  own;  one  to  whom  we  all  cling  with  an  undying  devo- 
tion for  all  that  we  owe  him;  the  saintly  and  self- forgetting 
man  whose  face  was  always  wreathed  in  the  happiest  and 
most  winning  of  smiles;  whose  arms  and  heart  were  always 


1 66  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

open  to  all  at  all  hours  and  for  any  length  of  time;  who 
really  worked  himself  into  his  grave  —  for  he  gave  but 
a  few  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four  to  repose  —  the  be- 
loved and  never-to-be-forgotten  priest,  apostle,  and  friend, 
the  like  of  whom  we  have  not  seen  since  those  days,  Father 
Theodore  Thiry. 

How  the  boys  clustered  about  him,  and  how  happy  he 
was  to  be  with  them;  how  often  would  he  catch  them  on 
the  streets  and  fill  their  mouths  with  sweets  to  correct, 
as  he  used  to  say,  the  bad  taste  of  some  word  they  had 
uttered,  and  getting  from  them  then  and  there  confession 
and  contrition!  The  street  as  well  as  the  church  was  his 
confessional,  and  I  have  known  him  to  go  out  on  the  plat- 
form of  a  Sixth  Avenue  car  at  two  o'clock  of  a  winter's 
morning,  to  talk  to  the  snow-covered  driver,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  capture  a  soul  that  had  not  been  at  confession  for 
years.  How  we  boys  in  college  used  to  linger  about  his 
desk  for  hours,  after  a  day  of  enthusiastic  teaching  of 
which  his  pupils  caught  the  fire.  Who  will  forget  his  month 
of  May  processions,  with  banners  and  garlands  and  statues 
and  crowns,  which  his  masterly  skill  led  through  a  perfect 
maze  of  marching  and  countermarching,  and,  in  spite  of 
the  restricted  limits  of  the  church,  never  interfering,  but 
always  contributing  in  perfect  order  to  the  splendor  which 
grew  with  each  succeeding  year? 

Was  there  ever  a  man  could  do  what  he  did  with  his 
Literary  Society?  There  is  nothing  like  it  in  the  country  — 
an  organization  of  working  boys,  founded  by  him  thirty- 
one  years  ago,  which  during  all  that  time  has  held  1250 
weekly  meetings,  showing  a  persistency  and  energy  which 
have  in  that  period  done  such  splendid  literary  work,  and 
developed  a  set  of  young  men  of  whom  we  may  well  be 
proud  for  the  glory  they  have  reflected  upon  the  parish, 
and  the  unwavering  devotion  they  have  in  all  circumstances 
shown  to  its  interests.  In  them  their  founder  still  lives. 


JUBILEE,  ST.  FRANCIS  XAVIER'S  CHURCH     167 

And  while  he  labored  so  amazingly  in  church  and  college, 
his  love  went  out  to  the  wide  world  beyond;  and  during 
the  years  he  was  in  charge  of  the  Holy  Childhood  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  dollars  passed  through  his  hands 
for  the  abandoned  children  of  distant  China.  Oh,  Father 
Thiry  —  for  we  cannot  but  think  that  your  spirit  is  here 
to-day  —  may  your  memory  always  be  an  inspiration  and 
a  delight  in  St.  Francis  Xavier's!  You,  for  us  who  knew 
you,  are  the  ideal  priest  and  Jesuit,  who  in  brightness  and 
happiness  and  almost  merriment  of  soul,  made  yourself 
a  holocaust  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  love  of  your 
fellow-man. 

In  the  upper  church  the  good  work  proceeded  of  course 
on  wider  lines,  with  the  multitudes  who  frequented  it. 
Every  corner  of  it  we  knew  and  loved,  and,  though  not 
as  beautiful  as  the  present  edifice,  was  none  the  less  ad- 
mired. Though  there  were  splendid  frescoes  on  the  lofty 
ceiling,  there  were  but  few  paintings  on  its  walls,  which 
were  mostly  tinted  in  imitation  of  marble;  nor  could  there 
be  many,  for  the  low  galleries  ran  around  the  sides,  spoil- 
ing the  effect  architecturally,  no  doubt,  but  affording  place, 
if  not  accommodation,  to  the  throngs  that  came  to  every 
service;  and  above  them  at  the  end  was  the  organ,  which 
we  thought  the  grandest  in  the  city  then,  and  at  whose 
keyboard,  from  the  time  it  gave  forth  its  first  note  almost 
till  the  church  was  closed,  presided  one  who  was  beloved 
and  admired  by  the  fathers  and  the  congregation,  with 
both  of  whom  he  had  grown  up,  and  with  whom  he  was 
intimately  associated.  His  heart,  I  think,  was  heavy  and 
sore  when  his  hands  drove  back  the  stops  for  the  last 
time  —  the  man  who  filled  so  much  space  in  the  public 
eye  in  those  days,  the  excellent  musician  and  devoted  Chris- 
tian, Dr.  William  Berge. 

There  were  three  paintings  in  the  church  which  we  all 
recall  —  under  the  west  gallery,  "  Our  Lady  of  Purgatory," 


1 68  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

under  the  east  one,  where  we  college  boys  went  out,  a 
representation  of  Jesus  as  a  boy;  and  over  the  main  altar, 
what  we  deemed  a  colossal  oil  painting  of  St.  Francis 
Xavier  borne  into  heaven  by  angels.  How  often  did  we 
boys  sit  there  while  Brother  Vachon,  the  sacristan,  in  his 
stately  way  lighted  the  candles !  We  saw  new  illuminations 
in  the  canvas,  and  wondered  what  were  the  names  of  the 
happy  angels  who  bore  St.  Francis  in  their  arms.  To  me 
that  sanctuary  was  inexpressibly  dear,  for  it  was  the  first 
I  ever  remember  to  have  seen;  there  I  made  my  first  com- 
munion, and  received  confirmation  at  the  hands  of  some 
exiled  Mexican  bishop,  into  whose  handsome  face  we  boys 
looked  and  wondered  why  such  a  man  should  be  banished 
from  his  country.  It  was  dear  to  me  because  later  on,  as 
a  scholastic,  I  had  for  a  year  or  so  taught  catechism  to 
the  famous  Class  of  Perseverance,  which  the  old  fathers 
had  so  splendidly  organized,  and  which  kept  up  a  syste- 
matic training  during  four  and  even  eight  years  after  first 
communion,  and  by  that  means  imparted  a  thorough  and 
intelligent  Catholicity  to  the  parish.  There,  too,  I  had 
preached  one  of  the  last  sermons  of  the  novena  that  had 
closed  old  Sixteenth  Street  Church  forever;  and  I  won- 
dered to  find  myself  in  the  place  of  the  great  men  whom 
I  had  looked  up  to  years  before. 

There  had  labored  the  wonderful  John  Larkin,  whom 
an  enthusiastic  and  admiring  student,  at  the  time  of  the 
utterance  himself  a  literary  celebrity,  described  in  almost 
extravagant  language  as  "  a  man  who  filled  the  place  with 
his  majestic  presence.  Though  his  face  was  full,  the  ex- 
quisite outlines  of  his  classical  features  were  not  obscured; 
he  had  the  mouth  of  a  young  Greek  god;  in  his  eye  there 
was  a  singular  union  of  mildness  and  penetration;  his  voice 
a  marvel  of  distinctness;  to  hear  him  talk  was  a  lesson  of 
elocution;  fluent,  easy,  direct,  and  natural;  every  word  had 
its  just  emphasis  and  exact  pronunciation,  every  sentence 


JUBILEE,  ST.  FRANCIS  XAVIER'S  CHURCH     169 

its  sure  balance  that  revealed  familiarity  with  the  best 
usage;  refined  taste,  self-possession,  and  composure  such 
as  is  rarely  possessed  except  by  persons  of  high  breeding 
and  thorough  education."  No  wonder  that  the  people 
listened  to  him  with  rapture,  and  that  he  had  to  flee  away 
lest  he  should  be  made  an  archbishop.  He  came  back  again 
when  the  danger  was  over  and  died  as  men  like  him  ought 
to  die,  in  the  midst  of  his  apostolic  work.  He  came  from 
the  confessional  and  dropped  dead  with  the  words,  "  It  is 
all  over."  Well  I  remember  the  consternation  at  the  church 
door  when  we  were  given  the  intelligence  in  the  few  but 
startling  words,  "  Father  Larkin  is  dead." 

Here,  too,  was  Father  De  Luysnes,  the  lordly  Irishman, 
whose  family  was  ennobled  in  France;  the  schoolmate  of 
Lacordaire;  the  favorite  of  De  Freysinnous,  the  Minister 
of  Worship  in  France,  through  whom  ecclesiastical  prefer- 
ment would  have  been  easy;  but  young  De  Luysnes  turned 
his  back  upon  the  country  and  his  hopes,  and  buried  himself 
in  what  was  then  the  wilderness  of  Kentucky,  where  he 
labored  in  closest  intimacy  with  the  pioneers  of  the  Ameri- 
can Church,  Flaget  and  Nerinckx  and  the  elder  Spaulding. 
It  was  he  who  gathered  by  far  the  largest  part  of  the 
money  for  the  building  of  the  church  when  he  was  obliged 
to  flee  to  Mexico  and  South  America  to  escape  the  bishopric 
of  South  Carolina.  His  strong  and  commanding  personal- 
ity, his  eloquence  in  the  pulpit,  his  scholarly  attainments, 
his  punctilious  exactness  in  the  fulfilment  of  the  smallest 
rules  through  fifty  years  of  bodily  suffering  which  few  were 
aware  of,  his  somewhat  imperious  but  affectionate  and  in- 
tensely loyal  nature,  and,  above  all,  his  tender  piety  made 
Father  De  Luysnes  a  great  figure  here  that  will  never  be 
forgotten.  To  assist  at  his  Mass  was  a  sermon  and  an  in- 
spiration. He  had  a  marvellous  faculty  for  remembering 
those  whom  he  had  assisted  in  their  dying  agony,  and  one 
of  us  whose  father  had  died  in  his  arms  can  remember,  and 


1 70  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

he  is  only  one  of  many,  the  thrill  of  delight,  when  the  dear 
old  priest  would  say  while  his  hand  rested  lovingly  on  the 
lad's  head,  "  My  boy,  strive  to  be  as  good  a  man  as  your 
father." 

Nor  can  we  forget  the  venerable  Father  Driscoll,  whose 
long  white  hair  and  serious  but  kindly  face,  on  which  time 
had  written  its  history  but  not  in  furrows,  was  a  sermon  in 
itself  as  soon  as  we  saw  him  in  the  pulpit  and  before  his 
lips  had  uttered  a  word.  He  was  an  orator,  with  a  natural 
copiousness  of  language  and  graceful  delivery,  whose  pa- 
thetic appeals  were  often  made  with  tears  streaming  down 
his  cheeks,  frequently  making  the  congregation  weep  with 
him  as  he  spoke. 

They  seemed  to  be  all  old  white-haired  men  in  those  days. 
For  there  was  also  Father  Mignard,  whose  beautiful  coun- 
tenance would  have  made  the  ideal  picture  of  a  priest  on  an 
artist's  canvas.  People  turned  to  look  at  that  stately  old 
priest,  with  the  silvery  hair  and  exquisitely  carved  features, 
whose  every  step  and  action  revealed  the  polished  gentle- 
man, as  he  passed  along  unheeding.  From  him  came  the 
first  impulse  of  the  devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart  in  this 
church  and  through  the  greater  part  of  this  section  of  the 
United  States. 

There  was  Father  Daubresse,  the  type  of  the  self-re- 
strained, modest,  learned,  exact,  and  holy  French  Jesuit ;  the 
much  sought  adviser  of  cardinals,  bishops,  and  prelates, 
because  of  his  vast  theological  erudition  and  clear-sighted 
wisdom;  and  such  an  exact  observer  of  his  rules  that  even 
in  his  ripe  old  age  he  was  intrusted  with  the  formation  of 
the  novices  of  the  Province.  He,  too,  had  waived  aside 
the  mitre. 

There  was  the  scholarly  Father  Shea,  so  beloved  of  the 
men  who  thronged  about  his  confessional  that  New  York 
seemed  empty  for  them  when  the  sudden  intelligence  came 
that  he  was  dead.  Like  Father  Larkin,  he  left  the  confes- 


JUBILEE,  ST.  FRANCIS  XAVIER'S  CHURCH     171 

sional  to  die.    A  little  more  thought  of  himself  might  have 
averted  what,  for  all  of  us,  was  a  calamity. 

There  was  Father  Dealy,  a  man  with  a  singular  influence 
on  men  of  the  world,  the  founder  of  what  is  now  the  Catho- 
lic Club,  though  long  known  as  the  Xavier  Union,  who, 
when  his  time  came  to  die,  and  when  I,  who  had  once  been 
his  scholar,  spoke  to  him  as  his  religious  superior  of  the 
condition  of  his  health,  said  laughingly  that  he  would  prob- 
ably die  that  night;  and  who,  when  the  priest  brought  the 
Blessed  Sacrament  to  the  sick-room,  drew  the  clothes  about 
him  and  springing  from  the  bed  knelt  on  the  bare  floor  that 
he  might  receive  the  body  and  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  to 
accompany  him  through  the  dark  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death. 

These  are  a  few  of  the  prominent  figures  that  stand  out 
clearly  against  the  past.  They  were  all  men  of  pronounced 
individuality,  quite  distinct  from  each  other,  and  working 
along  the  lines  traced  by  their  own  strong  characters  and  in 
their  own  fashion  for  the  glory  of  God. 

I  mention  this  to  dissipate  the  delusion  that  religious  life, 
and  especially  that  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  fashions  all  in 
the  same  mould  and  obliterates  personal  characteristics. 
The  age  has  gone  mad  about  individuality  as  if  it  had  dis- 
covered a  new  Apocalypse,  but  nowhere  can  be  found  such 
palpable,  such  marked,  and  such  aggressive  individual  traits 
as  in  religious  orders,  which  of  their  very  nature  tend  to 
develop  and  strengthen  while  they  at  the  same  time  curb 
the  idiosyncrasies  and  prevent  them  from  being  hurtful 
to  others  and  a  source  of  evil  as  they  are  elsewhere. 

There  are  many  others,  of  course,  whom  we  cannot  men- 
tion now  —  not  that  we  esteem  them  less,  but  because  time 
will  not  permit  it.  Some  are  living  and  some  are  dead  or 
scattered  over  the  world  and  working  for  the  glory  of  God 
elsewhere.  But  we  must  not  forget  men  like  Fathers  Loy- 
zance  and  Durthaller  and  Duranquet  and  Whyte  and  Glack- 


172  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

• 

meyer  and  Ronayne,  and,  nearer  to  the  present  time,  Fathers 
Merrick  and  McKinnon  and  Frisbie  and  Murphy  and, 
finally,  O'Conor. 

Here  in  the  early  days  thundered  the  great  missionaries 
Smarius  and  Damen,  reconciling  thousands  to  God  and 
winning  multitudes  to  the  faith;  and  no  one  will  fail 
to  remember  the  long  line  of  converts  at  the  end  of 
one  of  those  missions,  kneeling  at  the  altar  rail,  with  a 
venerable  minister  and  his  whole  family  at  their  head. 
Here  among  the  illustrious  prelates  and  orators  came  the 
great  Bishop  of  Pittsburgh,  who  laid  aside  his  mitre  for  the 
garb  of  a  Jesuit.  It  was  here  he  delivered  that  wonder- 
ful discourse  of  his  that  still  rings  in  our  ears  with  the 
majesty  of  its  periods,  and  still  enriches  our  memory  with 
the  wealth  of  its  erudition  when  he  described  the  work  of 
Canisius  in  stemming  the  work  of  the  Reformation.  Omit- 
ting many  others,  here  came  the  first  Apostolic  Nuncio, 
Bedini,  not  as  now  in  times  of  peace  and  toleration,  but  when 
the  whole  community  was  convulsed  by  his  presence.  He 
was  welcomed  at  St.  Francis  Xavier's  because  of  the  storm 
which  he  had  aroused;  for  we  Jesuits  had  been  rocked  in  the 
cradle  of  the  Reformation  times,  and  are  heedless  of  the 
consequences  to  ourselves  if  the  tempest  is  for  God's  glory. 
It  is  noteworthy  that  the  little  white-haired  lad  who  pre- 
sented him  an  address  on  that  occasion  in  '54  was  to  be 
rector  of  the  college  at  a  future  day,  Father  Pardow. 

St.  Francis  Xavier's  has  been  from  the  beginning  the 
centre,  the  focus,  the  starting  point  from  which  the  initial 
impulse  was  given  of  nearly  all  that  concerned  the  educa- 
tional and  ecclesiastical  life  of  the  country.  For  the  fathers 
who  first  gathered  here  were  the  immediate  successors  of 
the  men  who  erected  our  first  schools,  colleges,  and  churches. 
It  was  from  New  York  that  the  laborers  who  might  have 
toiled  here  went  to  strengthen  Georgetown  College.  The 
New  York  Jesuits  were  among  the  first  to  occupy  old  St. 


JUBILEE,  ST.  FRANCIS  XAVIER'S  CHURCH     173 

Peter's;  it  was  they  who  built  what  was  the  first  St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral,  and  it  was  they  who  were  the  possessors  of  the 
land  adjoining  the  new  Cathedral  on  Fifth  Avenue. 

With  the  distinguished  prelates  of  this  diocese,  the  great 
Archbishop  Hughes,  the  first  American  Cardinal  and  the 
present  beloved  occupant  of  the  see,  the  fathers  have  not 
only  labored  in  unison,  but  in  the  closest  bonds  of  affection 
and  regard;  counsel  and  advice  and  comfort  being  mutually 
given  and  received  for  the  work  of  God;  while  with  the 
priests,  many  of  whom  it  is  our  delight  to  say  are  our  for- 
mation, there  has  been  a  solidarity  that  has  never  been  im- 
paired, and  an  eagerness  to  be  helpful  on  both  sides,  which 
increases  with  time;  in  a  word,  an  uninterrupted  and  un- 
qualified esteem  which  renders  ridiculous  the  charge  that 
evil  men  are  making  of  diversity  of  interests  between  secu- 
lar and  religious.  As  in  former  times,  so  now;  there  can 
be  only  one  heart  and  one  soul,  for  we  read  the  lesson  all 
too  vividly  in  the  pages  of  history  that. the  religious  and 
secular  priesthood  rise  and  fall  together. 

It  is  from  this  centre  of  apostolic  work  that  during  these 
fifty  years,  under  the  heroic  and  saintly  Duranquet,  that 
silent  but  sublime  apostolate  to  the  abandoned  classes  went 
on  unnoticed  in  the  hospitals,  prisons,  and  pest  houses  of 
this  city.  It  was  a  work  which  no  one  else  wanted,  and 
which  we  gladly  accepted,  and  the  deaths  by  cholera  and 
typhus  and  smallpox  of  many  of  our  fathers  who  begged 
for  the  post  of  danger  proclaim  that  our  labor  has  not  been 
without  fruit. 

From  here  have  gone  forth  those  devoted  and  self-sacri- 
ficing missionary  bands  that  have  revived  the  faith  and 
strengthened  the  morality  of  the  Christian  people  through- 
out a  large  portion  of  this  country,  and  have  helped  so 
amazingly  to  increase  that  harvest  which  this  province 
gathers  every  year  of  more  than  a  thousand  converts  to  the 
faith. 


i74  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

Nay  more.  From  here  as  from  a  centre  has  issued,  I 
venture  to  assert,  a  large  part  of  the  spiritual  life  of  this 
country.  The  countless  retreats  conducted  mostly  during 
the  heats  of  summer,  and  continued  uninterruptedly  during 
these  fifty  years,  for  the  clergy  and  even  the  hierarchy,  as 
well  as  for  the  religious  communities,  have  engrafted  upon 
the  character  of  all  those  who  aspire  to  something  more 
than  the  observance  of  the  commandments  in  the  service 
of  God,  a  special  kind  of  ascetical  formation  which  is  essen- 
tially that  of  the  Society  of  Jesus ;  a  method  which  appeals 
chiefly  to  the  intellect,  which  is  distinguished  by  its  guid- 
ance of  each  individual  soul  according  to  its  own  particular 
bent;  which  does  not  keep  it  in  leading  strings,  but  impels 
it  to  take  the  initiative  in  matters  of  personal  and  public 
spiritual  progress.  And  it  is  eminently  proper  that  spirit- 
uality of  such  a  kind  should  spring  from  a  church  that  bears 
the  name  of  a  saint  who  so  dazzles  the  minds  and  excites 
the  admiration  of  modern  unbelievers  by  the  brilliancy  of 
his  apostolic  work  in  transforming  heathenism  into  splendid 
Christianity,  as  well  as  by  unwearied  and  exhaustless  re- 
sourcefulness which  he  displayed  in  extending  the  Kingdom 
of  Christ,  whether  he  was  standing  as  a  silk-robed  ambas- 
sador in  the  splendor  of  a  court,  or  dying  in  rags  on  an 
island  in  the  ocean,  or  continuing  his  work  in  his  successors 
who  preached  the  gospel  disguised  as  Brahmins  or  while 
setting  up  astronomical  instruments  in  the  observatory  of 
Pekin.  This  readiness  to  make  all  things  tend  to  the  glory 
of  God,  which  is  expressed  in  their  motto,  A.  M.  D.  G.,  is 
the  peculiarity  of  the  spiritual  training  which  is  given  in  this 
church  of  St.  Francis  Xavier. 

Nor  can  we  forget  on  an  occasion  like  this  the  old  fami- 
lies that  came  here  in  those  early  days  —  the  Dillons,  the 
Davises,  the  Devlins,  the  Delmonicos,  the  Learys,  the  Bed- 
fords,  the  Van  Burens,  the  Livingstons,  the  O'Donohues, 
the  Wadsworths,  the  Lynches,  the  Reynals,  the  Thebauds, 


JUBILEE,  ST.  FRANCIS  XAVIER'S  CHURCH     175 

the  Giberts,  the  O'Gormans,  the  Dalys,  the  Eugene  Kellys, 
the  Beales,  the  O'Briens,  the  Pardows,  the  Hargous,  the 
Fishers,  the  Neilsons,  the  Bradleys,  the  Alexanders,  De 
Berminghams,  Du  Viviers,  Whites,  Purroys,  Macks,  Carri- 
gans,  Olwells,  Donnellys,  Tracys,  Kerrigans,  Lamontagnes, 
Montants,  Maitlands,  O'Reillys,  Harviers,  and  countless 
others,  all  of  whom  are  affectionately  remembered,  but 
whom  time  will  not  permit  us  to  name.  They  were  all  old 
St.  Francis  Xavier's  people,  and  though  some  remain  and 
some  are  scattered,  they  all  seem  back  again  to-day  to  join 
the  general  joy  that  so  much  was  done  here  for  the  glory 
and  service  of  Almighty  God. 

The  great  Constantine  built  the  first  church  that  ever 
reared  its  walls  above  the  earth,  and  it  has  stood  or  risen 
again  amid  all  the  storms,  physical  or  political,  that  have 
swept  over  the  earth  during  sixteen  centuries.  Of  that  edi- 
fice there  is  a  universal  commemoration  every  year  through- 
out the  Church,  to  remind  us  of  the  holy  men  who  have  sat 
there,  of  the  great  councils  that  have  held  their  sessions 
within  its  walls,  and  of  the  great  glory  it  has  given  to  God 
in  its  work  upon  men's  souls.  So,  in  the  same  spirit,  though 
in  an  infinitely  less  degree,  do  we  commemorate  the  work 
that  has  been  done  for  the  salvation  of  souls  in  this  sacred 
edifice.  When  we  think  of  all  the  prayers  that  have  been 
offered  here  during  these  fifty  years,  of  the  souls  that  have 
been  reconciled  to  God,  of  the  millions  of  confessions  that 
have  been  heard,  of  the  greater  millions  of  holy  com- 
munions, of  the  multitudes  that  have  been  received  into  the 
Church,  of  the  sermons  that  have  been  preached,  the  glori- 
ous music  that  has  voiced  God's  praises,  and  the  holy  sacri- 
fices offered;  the  throngs  of  happy  children  who  have 
come  from  the  holy  table;  the  throngs  who  have  plighted 
their  marriage  troth,  and  held  their  infants  over  its  bap- 
tismal fonts,  or  have  knelt  in  tears  at  the  side  of  our 
dead,  who  were  brought  here  to  the  feet  of  God;  and, 


176  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

above  all,  how  out  of  this  holy  tabernacle,  where  Jesus 
has  been  dwelling  all  these  years,  infinite  blessings  have 
gone  forth  and  countless  calamities  have  been  averted,  we 
may  well  rejoice  that  God  has  deigned  to  abide  near  us,  and 
we  may  be  assured  that  the  work  of  the  past,  glorious  as 
it  has  been,  is  only  a  harbinger  of  the  future;  and  that 
through  many  a  century  yet  to  come  the  little  church  of  Six- 
teenth Street  will  be  reverted  to,  not  only  with  love  and 
affection,  but  with  deep  and  earnest  gratitude  to  Almighty 
God,  who  through  it  has  done  such  great  things  for  His 
people. 


Leo  XIII 


Celebration  of  the  Twenty-fifth  Year  of  His  Pontificate,  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral, 
New  York,  March  3,  1903 


EVENTS  in  our  days  hurry  by  with  such  kinetoscopic 
rapidity  that  we  forget  even  the  recent  past,  no 
matter  how  awful  it  may  have  been,  in  the  vivid 
flash  of  the  present. 

Twenty-five  years  are  but  a  brief  space,  even  in  the  life 
of  an  individual;  they  are  only  a  moment  in  that  of  a  single 
people,  and  as  naught  in  the  combined  and  complicated  his- 
tory of  the  nations  of  the  world.  And  hence  in  the  glory, 
the  triumph,  and  the  jubilation  of  to-day,  we  easily  lose 
sight  of  the  dishonor,  the  grief,  the  dismay  and  consterna- 
tion, which  ushered  in  the  career  whose  magnificent  cul- 
mination and  crown  we  are  now  gathered  to  celebrate  and 
extol. 

Pius  IX  was  dead.  The  venerable  Camerlengo  had  knelt 
at  his  coffin  and  called  him  by  name,  but  he  gave  no  answer; 
with  the  silver  mallet  the  official  had  thrice  reverently  struck 
that  icy  forehead,  and  there  was  no  response.  The  dark- 
ness of  the  tomb  had  cast  its  coldness  and  its  shadow  upon 
that  luminous  form,  so  majestic  in  the  days  of  his  triumph, 
and  so  radiant  with  glory  even  amid  the  gloom  which 
shrouded  the  last  moment  of  his  earthly  career.  The  Porta 
Pia  had  been  battered  down;  and  the  Piedmontese  robber, 
trampling  upon  every  law  and  violating  every  decency,  had 
entered  upon  his  course  of  sacrilegious  spoliation,  not  only 
in  the  Eternal  City,  but  throughout  the  Peninsula,  rending 
from  the  people  their  morality  and  their  faith  as  well  as 
their  earthly  goods,  and  reducing  them  to  the  condition  of 
ragged  beggary  in  which  we  see  them  to-day.  Even  the 


1 78  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

grave  of  the  Pontiff,  who  had  once  been  the  idol  of  the 
people,  was  not  to  be  respected,  and  a  frenzied  mob  fol- 
lowed his  sacred  remains  in  the  dead  of  night  with  curses 
and  imprecations,  clamoring  to  have  them  thrown  in  the 
Tiber.  Churches  were  closed,  institutions  of  charity  sup- 
pressed, the  teaching  of  religion  to  the  young  forbidden; 
deeper  and  deeper  misfortunes  were  dug  for  the  nation, 
until  to-day,  after  multiplied  military  disgraces  that  have 
made  that  people  of  warriors  the  laughing  stock  of  the 
world,  after  ruinous  and  atrocious  taxation  as  well  as  con- 
scription even  of  the  servants  of  the  sanctuary,  millions 
have  been  driven  into  exile,  and  the  mad  government  that 
rules  the  remnant  left  at  home  is  shrieking  to-day  for  the 
complete  and  ultimate  destruction  of  family  life,  by  an 
infamy  that  Italy  has  never  known:  the  imposition  of  the 
law  of  divorce,  which  we  trust  in  God  it  will  have  enough 
of  its  ancient  Catholic  spirit  to  reject  with  indignation  and 
contempt. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  this. awful  succession  of  horrors 
was  being  inaugurated.  Twenty-five  years  ago  Bismarck, 
the  remorseless  and  relentless  titan  of  blood  and  iron,  was 
crushing  Catholicity  out  of  Germany  by  the  savage  and 
cruel  iniquity  of  his  Kulturkampf;  sending  bishops  and 
priests  and  religious  into  exile,  the  prison,  or  the  barracks; 
closing  the  churches,  or  handing  them  over  to  usurpers, 
and  poisoning  the  minds  and  the  hearts  of  the  rising  gen- 
erations. Russia  was  improving  on  her  age-long  reputation 
as  a  persecutor  of  the  Church,  and  countless  Catholics, 
priests  and  laymen,  were  journeying  to  the  frozen  deserts 
of  Siberia.  Ireland  was  in  one  of  those  perpetually  re- 
curring throes  of  coercion  and  repression,  with  soldiers  and 
constabulary  swarming  over  it  from  sea  to  sea,  and  paying 
the  penalty  for  the  faith  which,  if  it  would  relinquish,  would 
secure  for  it  to-morrow  peace  and  earthly  prosperity.  Eng- 
land was  exulting  over  the  fall  of  the  Papal  power,  for 


LEO   XIII  179 

which  through  so  many  administrations  it  had  so  persist- 
ently and  shamelessly  plotted;  Spain  was  red  with  the  blood 
of  the  Carlists,  who  were  assumed,  rightly  or  wrongly,  to 
represent  the  Catholic  cause;  Belgium,  under  its  Masonic 
legislature,  had  torn  down  the  crucifixes  from  the  schools 
and  dismissed  the  Papal  Nuncio;  and  France,  just  emerg- 
ing from  the  horrors  of  the  Commune,  was  already  in- 
augurating that  diabolical  war  against  the  Church  which 
it  carries  on  with  such  malignity  to  the  present  day. 

Catholicity  was  dead,  or  equivalently  so  —  struck  in  its 
heart  of  hearts;  with  the  very  corpse  of  its  Pontiff  dis- 
honored, and  the  holy  city  in  the  hands  of  a  mob  vowed 
to  extirpate  religion  to  its  roots.  Who  cared  now  for  what 
the  Church  might  do?  Yet,  as  the  beleaguered  Roman 
Senators  of  old,  who  sold  the  very  field  on  which  their 
Carthaginian  enemies  were  encamped,  so,  on  the  i8th  day 
of  February,  1878,  beneath  the  vault  of  the  Sistine  Chapel, 
above  whose  altar  Michael  Angelo's  mighty  picture  of  the 
Last  Judgment  looked  down  in  warning,  sixty-two  princely 
Roman  Senators  of  the  Church,  immeasurably  greater  than 
those  of  old,  entered  into  solemn  conclave  for  the  election 
of  a  new  Pope.  They  came  to  utter  their  last  and  final 
judgment  as  to  who  should  reconquer  the  world  and  repel 
the  enemies  of  Christ  and  humanity.  The  world  paid  no 
attention  as  they  passed  silently  between  the  double  ranks 
of  the  Papal  Guard  —  that  shadow  of  a  dead  army;  there 
was  no  gorgeous  procession,  no  serried  lines  of  flashing 
swords  and  glittering  bayonets,  no  booming  of  cannons,  no 
pealing  of  bells,  no  gathering  of  ambassadors  from  im- 
perial or  royal  courts,  to  plot  and  plan  and  perhaps  to  in- 
fluence or  prevent  the  election,  no  solemn  Mass  at  the  tomb 
of  the  Apostles,  no  grave  and  dignified  discourse  to  the 
assembled  electors.  Neither  the  people  nor  many  of  the 
rulers  saw  what  was  going  on  or  cared.  Their  gaze  was 
fixed  on  other  scenes,  watching  the  bloody  battles  in  the 


i8o  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

Balkans,  where  Turk  and  Russian  were  struggling  for 
the  mastery  of  the  Bosporus,  and  where,  by  a  strange  coin- 
cidence, after  twenty-five  years  the  fight  is  again  renewed 
to-day. 

They  deliberated.  The  smoke  of  the  burning  ballots 
announced  to  the  world  without,  if  it  cared  to  look,  that 
there  was  no  election;  once  more  the  smoke  ascended,  but 
for  the  last  time.  The  choice  had  fallen  upon  one  down 
whose  cheeks  the  tears  were  streaming  as  the  pen  dropped 
from  his  helpless  hand.  An  old  man  long  past  the  meridian 
of  life,  scarcely  known  beyond  the  limited  circle  of  his 
immediate  associates,  was  selected  for  the  tremendous  re- 
sponsibility of  the  high  office.  Who  was  he? 

He  was  one  born  in  the  long  past,  when  Bonaparte,  the 
fierce  jailer  of  another  Pontiff,  was  trampling  upon  the 
nations  and  deluging  them  in  blood;  one  whose  race  was 
that  of  the  sandalled  and  togaed  people  of  the  Lepini  or 
Volscian  Mountains,  descendants  of  the  settlers  of  ancient 
Latium,  who  had  lived  for  centuries  on  the  bare  and  rocky 
crags  which  are  crowned  with  the  shattered  coronets  of 
ruined  cities;  the  Cyclopean  remnants  of  the  ancient  Roman 
Republic.  He  was  one  whose  childhood  and  youth  were 
spent  in  the  ancestral  palace  where  witch-hazeled  Car- 
pineto,  seated  upon  its  twin  mountains  at  the  end  of  the 
dark  and  deep  ravine  that  leads  up  to  it,  and  over  which 
towers  the  grim  peak  of  Semprevisa  from  whose  summit 
both  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Adriatic  can  be  seen,  looks 
down  upon  the  wheatfields  and  purpling  vineyards  and  sil- 
very olive  groves  of  the  country  below.  He  was  one  in 
whose  veins  ran  the  blood  of  the  famous  Cola  di  Rienzi,  the 
Last  of  the  Tribunes,  the  dreamer  of  a  Roman  Republic  in 
mediaeval  times.  He  was  one  who  later  on  in  Rome,  sin- 
gularly enough,  received  part  of  his  theological  training 
from  an  American  professor,  the  illustrious  Anthony  Kohl- 
mann  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  who  was  not  only  identified 


LEO   XIII  181 

with  the  legislation  of  the  State  of  New  York  in  the  early 
part  of  the  last  century,  by  his  defence  of  the  secret  of  con- 
fession, and  with  the  country  at  large,  by  his  magnificent 
assault  on  Unitarianism,  the  theme  of  one  of  the  greatest 
of  the  Papal  Encyclicals,  De  Christo  Redemptore,  but  with 
this  diocese  itself,  of  which  he  was  the  Administrator  before 
a  bishop  was  appointed.  He  was  the  pastor  of  St.  Peter's, 
the  builder  of  old  St.  Patrick's,  the  possessor  of  the  very 
ground  from  which  this  splendid  cathedral  leaps  to  the 
skies,  and  the  founder  of  a  Latin  school  near  where  the 
Lady  Chapel  is  being  erected.  And  thus  it  would  seem, 
providentially,  the  ancient  and  modern  Roman,  the  popular 
hero  and  the  noble,  the  democrat  and  the  American,  were 
commingling  elements  preparing  the  great  Pontiff  that  was 
to  be.  He  was  one  who  at  his  priesthood  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  master  minds  of  the  Church  by  the  promise 
of  greatness  that  he  so  manifestly  gave;  one  who  in  his 
early  career  signalized  his  vigor  as  well  as  his  wisdom  in 
tranquillizing  disordered  Beneventum;  a,nd  later  still,  when 
the  whole  country  of  Perugia,  which  from  the  old  days  of 
Sylla,  all  through  the  wild  times  of  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibel- 
lines,  had  been  the  theatre  of  strife  and  warfare,  and  was 
still  wilder  in  its  anarchy  and  atheism,  this  young  ecclesiastic 
came  to  bring  it  happiness  and  peace,  to  open  its  prison 
doors  and  avert  the  famine  that  threatened  it  with  ruin. 
He  had  done  all  this  and  more,  but  he  was  now  forgotten; 
and  though  a  Cardinal,  he  was  virtually  exiled  from  Rome, 
and  for  thirty-one  years  of  a  holy  episcopate  had  labored 
obscurely  and  faithfully  for  God,  and  had  again  freed 
Perugia  from  the  disorder  that  reigned  there.  He  had 
just  experienced  the  horrors  of  the  Garibaldian  invasion, 
in  which  he  had  seen  his  home  violated  and  an  aged  priest 
taken  out  to  be  shot  in  the  public  street;  and  he  was  now 
preparing  for  death,  his  career  was  at  an  end.  Upon  this 
man,  unexpectedly  and  in  spite  of  speculation  to  the  con- 


1 82  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

trary,  fell  the  suffrages  of  the  Sacred  College,  and  when, 
prostrate  at  his  feet,  the  scarlet-robed  Princes  of  the  Church 
asked  Joachim  Pecci  what  name  he  would  take  as  Pope,  he 
gave  in  reply  one  which  shall  ever  be  immortal  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Church  and  the  world,  Papa  Leo  Decimus  Ter- 
tius,  Pope  Leo  XIII. 

They  vested  him  in  his  white  robes  and  put  the  ring  of 
the  Fisherman  upon  his  finger,  and  as  he  turned  to  give 
his  blessing  it  was  not,  as  usual,  Urbi  et  Orbi  to  the  surging 
and  swaying  throngs  outside  on  the  Piazza  of  St.  Peter 
—  the  City  and  the  World  were  not  worthy  of  it  —  but 
to  the  devout  and  praying  multitudes  inside  the  sacred  edi- 
fice and  gathered  around  the  altar  near  the  tomb  of  the 
Apostles.  The  people,  the  Catholic  people,  the  sacrament- 
loving  and  faith-cherishing  people,  were  nearest  to  his 
heart.  They  should  be  blessed  first;  and  being  blessed  they 
were  to  bless  the  world. 

What  would  his  first  act  be?  asked  the  now  surprised 
and  expectant  nations.  Some  startling  declaration  of 
policy?  Some  new  definition  of  dogma?  Some  act  or 
appeal  to  regain  the  lost  sovereignty  of  the  Papacy?  He 
would  do  nothing  to  startle,  nothing  to  disturb  or  arouse. 
This  Lumen  de  Coelo  would  come  as  the  light  comes,  an 
unfelt  and  almost  undlstinguishable  glimmer  on  the  hori- 
zon; a  shaft,  a  ray,  piercing  the  heavens;  an  illumining  of 
the  mountain  peaks ;  a  gradual  brightening  of  the  mountain 
sides,  awakening  all  nature  into  a  realization  of  life  with 
its  happiness,  its  possibilities,  and  its  joy,  pouring  its  efful- 
gence down  into  the  plains  and  over  the  forests  and  rivers 
and  great  cities  of  men;  penetrating  into  the  darkest  re- 
cesses, and  giving  finally  to  mankind  the  fulness  of  perfect 
day. 

He  would  define  no  dogma,  at  least  explicitly.  Pius  IX 
had  done  that  sufficiently  with  his  wonderful  Syllabus;  by 
his  declaration  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  and  by  the 


LEO   XIII  183 

doctrine  of  Infallibility:  the  first,  smiting  all  the  errors  of 
the  day  and  arousing  the  world  into  fierce  denunciations; 
the  second,  declaring,  by  the  glory  with  which  it  invested 
the  Mother  of  Christ,  that  man's  soul  is  not  a  clod  nor  a 
mere  matter  of  mechanism  which  can  know  no  sin,  but  an 
immortal  spirit,  blighted,  save  in  one  instance,  with  a  curse; 
and  the  third,  providentially  preparing  the  world,  by  the 
decree  of  Infallibility,  for  the  reverence  and  awe  with  which 
all  the  utterances  of  Leo,  his  successor,  are  regarded. 
There  was  no  need  at  present  for  further  definitions  of 
dogma.  The  world  would  not  hear  it  and  was  clamoring 
fatuously  for  deeds,  not  creeds;  for  morality  and  not  reli- 
gion; for  morality  without  it,  if  that  were  possible.  And 
so  with  apparent  or  partial  acquiescence  Leo  XIII  has  been 
writing  across  the  century,  in  letters  of  light  that  can  never 
fade,  the  most  magnificent  and  authoritative  code  of  ethics 
the  world  has  ever  known. 

In  those  marvellous  and  multitudinous  Encyclicals,  all 
of  which  bear  the  stamp  of  his  own  individuality  and  of 
no  other,  exquisite  as  they  are  with  that  attractive  literary 
grace  which  is  revealed  in  his  poetical  compositions,  them- 
selves so  amazing  in  one  burdened  with  overpowering  polit- 
ical as  well  as  ecclesiastical  responsibilities,  we  find  almost 
every  subject  of  national,  social,  domestic,  and  individual 
ethics  treated  in  the  most  exhaustive  and  conclusive  though 
simplest  and  most  luminous  manner,  and  so  eagerly  sought 
for  that  they  are  scarcely  dry  on  the  paper  before  they  are 
read  in  every  language  of  the  earth. 

We  find  there  treatises  on  the  constitution  of  states;  the 
duties  as  well  as  the  rights  of  rulers;  the  rights  as  well  as 
the  duties  of  the  people;  the  nature  of  family  life;  mar- 
riage, divorce,  education;  the  land  question;  civilization,  its 
origin,  progress,  and  perils;  social  and  secret  organizations; 
capital  and  labor;  slavery;  socialism,  anarchy;  the  higher 
life  of  clerics  of  every  degree;  their  studies,  social  action; 


1 84  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

along  with  an  infinity  of  cognate  topics  which  are  taken  up, 
discussed,  and  determined,  while  the  most  efficacious  reme- 
dies are  assigned  for  the  evils  that  accrue. 

To  the  nations  drunk  with  the  wine  of  material  great- 
ness and  power,  he  says :  "  Not  in  mighty  armies,  embattled 
fleets,  or  vast  accumulations  of  wealth  are  nations  secure, 
but  only  when  they  are  built  on  the  eternal  laws  of  justice." 
The  terrible  forces  of  anarchy  and  socialism  are  rising  in 
their  fury  and  threatening  the  destruction  of  the  whole 
social  order.  He  reveals  to  them  a  greater  levelling  of  man- 
kind than  the  wildest  Socialist  ever  dreamed  of  in  the  equal- 
ity of  all  men  before  God,  reminds  them  that  material  bet- 
terment is  soonest  and  most  securely  gained  by  peaceful 
means,  and  warns  them  that  their  mad  efforts  only  make 
for  the  destruction  of  their  authors.  To  the  angry  and 
lowering  antagonism  of  capital  and  labor,  he  shows  the 
rights  as  well  as  the  duties  of  both  contestants,  and  how  to 
reconcile  their  respective  claims ;  while  asserting  without  fear 
of  challenge  his  undying  and  tenderest  solicitude  for  the 
poor,  he  stands  as  the  fearless  champion  of  the  rights  of 
property;  to  the  wild  riot  of  passion,  which  in  almost  every 
country  of  the  world  is  shattering  the  sanctuary  of  home 
and  severing  the  marriage  tie  by  the  infamous  paganism 
of  divorce,  he,  with  the  same  intrepidity  as  that  which  char- 
acterized the  Popes  who  withstood  the  adulterous  monarchs 
of  the  world  for  similar  outrages  upon  morality,  nay,  with 
greater  courage  addresses  a  greater  foe,  by  facing  the 
people  of  every  land  and  declaring  that  the  ban  of  the  Al- 
mighty is  against  the  dissolution  of  marriage,  and  that 
even  if  it  were  not  so,  to  admit  divorce  is  to  slay  the  nation. 
He  has  pleaded  pathetically  for  the  Christian  education  of 
the  child  in  order  to  save  the  State  as  well  as  the  child. 
He  has  expended  vast  sums  from  the  treasures  given  to 
him  for  himself  in  the  liberation  of  slaves,  and  has  inspired 
armies  of  his  children  to  give  their  lives  to  regenerate 


LEO   XIII  185 

Africa's  Dark  Continent.  In  these  days,  when  Religious 
Orders  are  reviled  even  in  the  Church  and  persecuted  by 
its  enemies,  he  has  written  letters  of  deeper  love  than  per- 
haps any  other  Pope  has  ever  penned,  declaring  to  the 
world  that  Religious  Orders  are  an  integral  part  of  the 
Church,  and  emphasizing  his  pronouncements  not  only  by 
recounting  their  glories  and  their  services,  both  past  and 
present,  but  with  more  than  usual  effusiveness  of  affection 
canonizing  their  numberless  saints  and  intrusting  to  their 
members  the  highest  offices  in  the  administration  of  the 
Church;  and  notably,  by  his  recent  appointments  in  the  new 
and  untried  sphere  of  our  own  land,  where  so  many  and 
such  unexpectedly  clashing  interests  call  for  unusually  gentle, 
patient,  and  skilful  diplomatic  wisdom.  He  has  indicated 
the  fatal  consequences  of  false  philosophy;  he  has  placed 
his  protecting  hand  on  the  sacred  volumes  of  revelation; 
he  has  opened  new  avenues  of  better  and  higher  studies  for 
the  clergy;  he  has  reminded  the  nations  that  the  source  and 
origin  of  modern  civilization  is  Christ,'  and  has  warned 
them  that  if  He  is  set  aside,  our  laws,  our  institutions,  our 
governments,  our  families,  our  aspirations,  our  lives,  must 
all  go  back  again  to  the  paganism  from  which  Christ  de- 
livered us;  and  he  has  pointed  to  the  tabernacle  as  espe- 
cially the  source  from  which  true  civilization  can  draw  its 
life.  In  a  thousand  different  ways,  by  encyclicals  and  let- 
ters and  briefs  and  allocutions,  he  has  been  the  teacher  of 
every  grade  and  condition  of  society.  Every  word  he 
utters,  every  act  he  performs,  is  the  fulfilling  of  this  great 
characteristic  work;  nay,  his  entire  life,  spent  as  it  is  so  far 
away  from  men,  on  the  sublime  heights  of  his  own  intellec- 
tual and  spiritual  greatness,  fading  away  it  would  almost 
seem,  through  the  years  that  have  been  so  wonderfully 
lengthened,  into  the  light  of  eternity;  undertaking  and  per- 
forming the  most  gigantic  labor  with  sustenance  and  rest 
scarcely  sufficient  to  retain  the  frail  life  that  every  moment 


1 86  VARIOUS   DISCOURSES 

threatens  to  flutter  away  into  the  world  beyond;  self-chained 
to  one  place  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  uttering  by  every  act 
of  his  Pontificate  that  memorable  word  which  he  had  penned 
in  exquisite  verse  when  first  the  triple  crown  of  thorns  was 
put  upon  him:  " Non  flectar;  I  will  not  be  bent."  Against 
the  robbery  of  the  Patrimony  of  Peter  I  will  forever  pro- 
test. I  will  not  be  swerved.  /  will  not  be  bent  by  anything 
that  the  enemies  of  God  and  of  the  Church  may  devise. 
Non  flectar.  The  very  antithesis  in  everything  of  what  the 
world  is,  yet  so  completely  in  touch  with  every  part  of  it 
that  not  only  the  great  men  of  the  earth  consult  him,  but, 
as  if  he  had  no  other  task,  multitudes  rush  to  converse 
with  him,  and  yet  to  all  so  approachable  that  even  if  I 
am  the  meanest  slave  I  can  go  to  him  and  hear  him  speak 
to  me,  and  feel  the  pressure  of  his  affectionate  hand  upon 
my  head,  and  know  that  he  is  my  father  and  I  his  son.  This 
is  his  greatest  Encyclical;  and  when  history  is  written  he 
will  be  pictured  to  the  eyes  of  posterity,  as  he  is  to  ours, 
like  the  light-crowned  Lawgiver  of  old,  radiant  in  all  the 
glory  of  his  exalted  office  as  well  as  in  the  splendor  of  his 
intellectual  illumination  and  the  dazzling  beauty  of  his 
holy  life,  standing  high  above  the  races  of  men,  as  upon  a 
Mount  Sinai :  pitying  them,  praying  for  them,  willing  to  die 
for  them,  and  ever  pointing  to  the  tablets  of  the  law  re- 
ceived by  him  from  God  to  deliver  to  the  nations,  which, 
to  a  greater  extent  than  the  rebellious  Hebrews  of  those 
days,  reck  not  of  what  is  going  on  above  them,  engrossed 
as  they  are  in  pleasure  or  carried  away  in  rebellion  in  the 
plains  beneath. 

It  is  thus  he  is  conquering  the  material  and  sensual  world 
by  the  light  of  the  intellect  and  the  splendor  of  divine  reve- 
lation. He  is  doing  what  the  Popes  have  always  done ;  for 
as  Christ  came  without  the  worldly  circumstance  of  pomp 
and  power  and  taught  men  the  way  of  salvation,  so  have  the 
Popes  continued  to  do.  What  was  their  work  during  the 


LEO   XIII  187 

three  centuries  of  persecution,  but  to  teach  those  genera- 
tions of  martyrs  that  their  sufferings  and  deaths  were  wis- 
dom, and  that  the  ways  of  the  world  were  folly,  warning 
them  of  the  countless  errors  of  doctrine  which  one  is  almost 
amazed  to  see  springing  up  in  the  Church  in  days  when  its 
cup  of  sorrow  was  already  too  full  from  the  persecutions 
of  the  enemies  without.  It  was  by  teaching  the  wild  Arian 
savages,  both  princes  and  people,  that  the  Popes  subdued 
them,  changed  them  into  saints  and  martyrs,  and  constituted 
them  builders  of  our  present  Christian  civilization.  It 
was  by  the  splendid  teachings  of  the  Council  of  Trent, 
which  was  identified  with  the  Pontiffs  who  convened  it,  that 
the  wild  revolt  of  Luther  was  checked,  and  Protestantism 
was  prevented  from  making  any  other  conquest  than  those 
which  were  achieved  in  the  first  fury  of  the  onset.  In  the 
same  way  in  these  our  own  times,  when  Councils  are  im- 
possible, it  is  by  the  sublime  teaching  of  these  twenty-five 
years  that  Leo  XIII  has  not  only  regained  all  the  ground 
that  the  Church  had  lost,  but  has  advanced  immeasurably 
beyond;  it  is  his  instruction  to  the  Catholic  masses  that  has 
checked  the  onward  march  of  socialism,  which,  but  for 
him,  would  have  long  since  gone  to  the  wildest  excesses, 
but  was  halted  when  the  Catholic  section  of  the  working 
classes  was  rent  from  it;  for  all  of  which  socialism 
hates  him  as  well  as  the  Catholicity  which  he  shapes  and 
guides.  And  while  his  words  have  controlled  the  clamors 
of  the  laboring  classes,  they  are  simultaneously  inspiring 
the  fight  in  the  few  Catholic  countries  that  are  left  for  the 
last  rampart  of  Christian  civilization,  Christian  marriage; 
and  it  is  also  the  voice  of  his  marvellously  strong  personal- 
ity that  has  disarmed  the  hitherto  unbridled  tyranny  of  the 
rulers  of  certain  nations  and  made  mercy  and  justice  pre- 
vail. He  has  done  all  that  without  armies,  without  fleets, 
without  riches,  without  a  kingdom,  and  without  a  home. 
If  we  turn  back  twenty-five  years  to  the  gloomy  night 


1 88  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

when  a  howling  mob  surrounded  the  dishonored  corpse  of 
Pius  IX  while  it  was  being  secretly  hurried  to  its  last  resting 
place,  and  then  gaze  upon  his  successor,  who  rises  before 
the  eyes  of  the  world  greater  than  any  king  or  emperor 
or  warrior  or  statesman,  though  without  a  single  earthly 
resource  to  secure  him  respect;  if  we  reflect  that  every 
word  he  utters,  every  act  of  his  life,  every  fear  that  is 
felt  lest  it  be  extinguished,  is  chronicled  at  the  ends  of  the 
earth;  if  we  consider  the  enthusiasm  with  which  his  name 
fires  the  heart  of  the  Church  and  the  reverence,  and  per- 
haps fear,  and  even  love  with  which  he  is  regarded  even 
by  those  not  of  the  Faith,  we  may  well  say  that  if  there  is 
nothing  else,  that  is  surely  a  stupendous  transformation 
effected  by  Leo  XIII. 

Look  at  the  changed  condition  of  the  world  brought 
about  mainly  by  his  influence.  Germany,  from  a  bitter 
persecutor,  has  become  a  friend,  and  hails  as  the  stanchest 
defenders  of  its  rights,  its  liberties,  and  its  glories,  the 
splendidly  solid  Catholic  party  of  the  Centre,  with  its  val- 
iant statesmen  on  whom  the  mantle  of  Malinckrodt,  Wind- 
thorst,  and  Lieber  has  fallen.  On  that  band  of  devoted 
Catholic  patriots  the  great  Protestant  Emperor  relies  in 
the  dangers  of  the  present,  as  well  as  those  that  loom  up 
more  menacingly  in  the  dark  times  that  are  soon  to  come. 

Ever  since  the  day  when  the  bomb  of  the  Russian  nihilist 
mangled  the  body  of  Alexander,  the  Government  of  Russia 
has  recognized  that  its  truest  friend  is  the  Pontiff,  who  de- 
nounced tyranny  as  well  as  anarchy.  Its  attitude  to  its 
Polish  subjects  has  changed,  and  its  Grand  Dukes  come  as 
ambassadors  to  the  Vatican. 

Is  not  the  altered  condition  of  Ireland  and  England  due, 
in  large  measure,  to  the  patient  statesmanship  of  Leo 
during  those  trying  times  of  misrepresentation  and  calumny, 
when  the  susceptibilities  of  a  high-strung,  a  wronged  and 
outraged  race  had  to  be  managed  while  not  offending  the 


LEO   XIII  189 

dogged  and  almost  inconceivably  impenetrable  prejudices 
of  those  who  ruled? 

Belgium,  whose  fate  seemed  to  be  hanging  in  the  balance 
when  Leo  began  to  reign,  has  given  to  the  world  a  splendid 
example  during  all  these  years  of  what  a  Catholic  country 
can  do  in  justice  and  social  freedom  as  well  as  in  splendid 
material  advancement. 

Spain,  whose  young  ruler  is  Leo's  godson,  though  it 
has  lost  its  colonies,  has  been  blessed  with  internal  peace 
these  many  years;  and,  finally,  our  own  country  has  had 
its  experience  of  his  influence.  For  it  was  his  gentle  for- 
bearance that  never  uttered,  or  permitted  to  be  uttered, 
a  word  that  could  wound  or  offend,  which  has  so  skilfully 
guarded  diplomatic  relations  with  a  proud  and  victorious 
people,  that  the  wild  clamors  of  religious  fanaticism  have 
been  quelled,  the  unworthy  aims  of  designing  politicians 
have  been  thwarted,  while  he,  the  great  Father  of  Christen- 
dom, with  absolute  trust  in  the  fearlessness  and  keen  sense 
of  justice  of  our  Chief  Executive  as  weft  as  in  the  honor 
of  our  people,  serenely  legislates  for  the  religious  govern- 
ment of  the  new  possessions,  and  gives  an  assurance  that 
the  Catholics  of  the  Philippines  shall  be  the  most  devoted 
supporters  of  the  American  Republic. 

The  whole  continent  of  Africa,  from  Algeria  to  the  Cape, 
has  been  partitioned  among  Religious  Orders  for  the  con- 
version and  civilization  of  the  countless  tribes  that  inhabit 
those  vast  regions  yet  to  be  explored. 

New  hierarchies  have  been  established.  In  Scotland, 
which  had  none  since  the  Reformation,  although  an  excited 
mob  danced  around  a  fire  in  the  public  square  to  burn  the 
Letter  of  the  Pope,  the  Church  there  is  going  on  tranquilly 
with  its  work.  Similarly,  the  forgotten  East  has  been  put 
upon  its  former  ecclesiastical  footing.  Vast  numbers  of 
Nestorian  Schismatics,  who  have  been  separated  from  the 
Church  for  fourteen  centuries,  have  come  back  to  their 


1 90  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

spiritual  home  with  their  Patriarch  at  their  head.  In  the 
centre  of  Christendom  a  Council  of  the  entire  South  Ameri- 
can hierarchy  was  convened  and  new  life  given  to  that 
Church  which  seemed  threatened  with  decay.  In  almost 
every  country  the  Church  has  made  gigantic  strides  in  the 
number  and  character  of  the  faithful,  and  never  has  the 
wide  field  of  the  missions  in  savage  countries  been  so  labori- 
ously and  fruitfully  cultivated  as  during  the  Pontificate  of 
Leo  XIII.  Let  us  hope  that  France  and  Italy  will  soon 
yield  to  the  sweet  influence  of  his  limitless  fatherly  love. 

How  can  you  explain  all  these  stupendous  results,  this 
sudden  uplifting  of  the  entire  Church  from  the  condition 
of  helplessness  in  which  it  was  twenty-five  years  ago  to  the 
glory  and  power  which  it  possesses  to-day?  By  the  pene- 
trating, unflagging,  and  apparently  ever  brightening  intel- 
lectuality of  the  Pontiff?  By  his  almost  preternatural  pa- 
tience and  prudence?  By  his  unusual  gift  of  personal  at- 
traction, which  wins  the  intense  love  of  his  children  and 
the  admiration,  not  of  his  enemies,  for  he  has  none,  but  of 
the  bitterest  and  most  unrelenting  foes  of  the  Church? 
None  of  these  things,  nor  all  of  them  together,  will  explain 
the  phenomenon.  All  these  personal  qualities,  intensify  them 
as  you  will,  because  they  are,  after  all,  only  natural  gifts  or 
acquirements,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  because  of  the  fierce 
human  passions  with  which  they  have  to  deal,  because  of 
the  diversity  of  political  and  personal  interests  and  ani- 
mosities which  they  have  to  conciliate,  because  of  the  fierce 
conflicts  of  jealous  and  mutually  repellent  nationalities 
which  they  have  to  propitiate,  because,  finally,  of  the  in- 
ability of  the  merely  natural  to  penetrate  the  souls  of  men 
and  make  them  loyal  and  devoted  without  giving  any  mate- 
rial recompense  in  return,  can  never  exert  an  influence  such 
as  the  one  we  are  rejoicing  in  to-day. 

There  is  only  one  explanation.  It  is,  that,  along  with 
these  great  personal  endowments  which  so  fit  him  for  his 


LEO   XIII  191 

high  office,  there  is  centred  in  him  another  power,  that, 
namely,  which  long  ago  suddenly  lifted  the  Church  of  the 
first  three  centuries  from  the  sea  of  blood  into  which  it  had 
first  been  flung  and  made  it  a  vital,  energizing,  directive, 
and  saving  influence  in  the  political  fortunes  of  the  world. 
That  power  enabled  it  to  survive  the  wreck  of  the  ancient 
civilization,  and  carried  the  nations  with  it  to  a  new  one 
greater  than  the  old;  made  it  ride. the  wild  storm  of  the 
Reformation  and  emerged  from  it  more  glorious  than  be- 
fore, as  it  had  done  in  the  thousand  whirlwinds  of  heresies 
which  have  attempted  from  the  beginning  to  destroy  it; 
guided  it  steadily  on  its  course  in  spite  of  the  fierce  perse- 
cutions that  have  ever  assailed  it;  made  it  also  survive  all 
the  fierce  tempests  of  to-day,  and  will  carry  it  through 
the  others  that  are  to  be  before  it  till  the  end  of  time. 

Great,  splendid,  inspiring  as  is  the  figure  of  Leo,  there 
is  a  Form  beside  him,  radiant  with  heavenly  light,  that  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  Who  is  ever  in  the  bark  of 
Peter.  That  bark  is  high  on  the  crest  to-day.  It  may  be 
down  in  the  trough  of  the  deep  to-morrow.  But  it  will 
ever  sail  on  to  the  port;  and  though  battered  and  broken, 
and  though  some  of  its  mariners  may  be  swept  from  its 
deck,  it  will  never  be  wrecked  on  the  rocks  and  never  go 
down  in  the  surge  of  the  sea. 

Our  hearts  may  well  thrill  with  joy  to-day,  as  we  hail 
the  glorious  Pontiff  crowned  with  his  triple  crown;  the 
accents  of  every  tongue  in  every  land  over  the  wide  world 
mingle  in  glad  acclaim;  from  the  steeples  of  every  land 
peal  out  the  glad  tidings,  "  We  have  a  Pope  and  his  name 
is  Leo  ";  the  people  are  gathered  in  all  the  sanctuaries  of 
the  earth,  around  the  altar  of  the  Most  High,  rejoicing  to 
be  the  children  of  such  a  father,  and  also,  can  we  doubt  it? 
desiring  to  realize  in  their  lives  the  lessons  he  has  taught 
them,  and  the  high  ideal  of  Catholicity  he  has  set  before 
their  eyes;  the  royal-vestured  priests  and  prelates  gather 


1 92  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

in  the  sanctuary,  and  with  all  the  splendor  of  the  Church's 
ritual  offer  the  sacred  mysteries  in  thanksgiving  to  God  for 
intrusting  His  Church  to  such  a  man.  But  with  all  of  it  is 
the  living,  overpowering  fact,  which  none  better  than  the 
illustrious  Pontiff  comprehends  in  all  its  awfulness :  that, 
great  though  he  be  in  all  that  is  truly  noble,  magnificent, 
and  splendid  in  humanity,  he  is  greatest  because  he  is  the 
Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ,  against  Whose  Church  the  gates  of 
hell  can  never  prevail. 

"  Thou  art  Peter,"  resounds  through  the  vast  dome  of 
the  great  Roman  basilica  to-day.  "  Thou  art  Peter,"  re- 
sounds through  the  vaster  dome  of  the  universe,  in  every 
accent  and  every  tongue  in  which  mankind  voices  its  one 
thought.  Nay,  from  the  dome  of  the  heavens  comes  the 
voice  of  Jesus  Christ  as  he  gazes  upon  Leo  His  Vicar. 
"  Thou  art  Peter,"  Peter  and  Leo  are  one. 

"  Thou  art  Peter "  is  the  universal  acclaim  of  God's 
people,  whose  hearts  overflow  with  unspeakable  joy  that 
their  faith  is  the  same  divine  faith  as  that  which  Christ 
imparted  to  the  Apostles;  and  which,  because  it  is  divine, 
is  not  to  be  scattered  like  dust  by  every  whirlwind  of  human 
passion,  or  every  madness  of  the  human  mind,  but  a  rock 
that  can  mock  the  fiercest  storm  forever,  for  it  is  built  deep 
in  the  foundation  of  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Living  God, 
Who  has  promised  that  though  heaven  and  earth  shall 
pass  away  His  word  shall  not  pass  away. 

"  Thou  art  Peter  "  is  a  message  to  the  multitudes  that 
are  looking  and  longing  and  praying  for  unity  of  faith. 
It  warns  them  that  there  is  no  unity  except  in  the  Rock  of 
Peter. 

*  Thou  art  Peter  "  is  a  challenge,  a  defiance,  sent  out 
to  the  enemies  of  Christ,  bidding*  them  do  their  worst  with 
their  theories  and  systems  and  dreams  and  delusions,  and 
their  false  claims  of  science.  Theories  and  systems  and 
dreams  and  delusions  vanish  in  the  air,  and  genuine  science 


LEO   XIII  193 

will  only  bring  out  in  brighter  light  the  truth  and  beauty 
of  Christian  Revelation. 

"  Thou  art  Peter  "  is  a  solemn  admonition  which  the 
world  has  often  had  before,  that  only  in  that  clear  light, 
streaming  as  it  does  from  heaven  and  illumining  the  Rock 
of  Peter,  can  the  nations  find  their  way  through  the  moral 
and  intellectual  night  which  envelops  the  pathway  of  human 
society.  It  is  a  declaration  that  only  the  Lumen  de  Coelo 
can  lead  it  to  safety  and  salvation.  It  is  the  expression  of 
a  hope  which  we  trust  may  be  realized  that  ere  our  earthly 
Lumen  de  Coelo  mingles  its  radiance  with  the  splendors  of 
the  eternal  court,  the  world  may  profit  still  more,  for  its 
peace,  its  happiness,  and  its  truth,  from  the  glorious  life  of 
that  High  Priest  of  God,  to  whom  it  owes  so  much,  and 
that  even  the  most  remote  and  alien  and  rebellious  of 
nations  may  recognize  and  acknowledge,  as  one  of  the  great- 
est benefactors  the  world  has  ever  known,  the  immortal 
Pontiff,  who  especially,  as  the  Lumen  de  Coelo,  has  been 
the  representative  of  the  Saviour  of  mankind  —  the  mar- 
vellous, the  splendid,  the  beloved  Leo  XIII. 


Genesis  of  Socialism 

Before  the  Federated  Catholic  Societies,  Detroit,  Michigan,  July  3,  1904 


I 


spectre  of  Socialism,  which  looms  over  mod- 
ern civilization  with  a  menace  of  ruin,  may  well 
cause  serious  alarm.  How  it  was  formed,  how 
it  grew  to  its  present  proportions,  what  dangers  it  entails, 
are  questions  of  the  most  vital  and  immediate  interest 
to  all  manner  of  men. 

In  general  its  rise  may  be  ascribed  to  the  elimination 
of  Christianity  from  modern  legislation,  to  the  influence 
of  false  economic  principles,  and  to  the  new  methods  which 
the  nations  have  adopted  to  achieve  greatness  and  power. 

In  political  matters  the  disturbing  element  is  undoubt- 
edly the  theory  which  dominates  the  civilized  world  to- 
day with  regard  to  the  origin  of  civil  power,  namely,  that 
its  source  is  the  people;  that  the  people  have  conferred  it, 
and  can  revoke  it  at  pleasure. 

It  is  the  doctrine  of  J.  J.  Rousseau,  who  described  it 
as  the  Social  Compact  which  was  entered  into  by  the 
aboriginal  peoples  and  their  rulers;  a  fiction  which  has  been 
for  more  than  a  century  regarded  as  an  unquestioned  and 
sacred  fact,  but  which  is  without  the  slightest  historical 
foundation.  Needless  to  say,  it  is  in  direct  contradiction 
with  Catholic  teaching,  which  proclaims,  with  St.  Paul, 
that  all  authority  is  from  God,  and  though  it  may,  and 
often  does,  come  through  the  people,  it  does  not  originate 
there,  and  in  no  case  confers  unlimited  right  to  rebel. 

The  uninterrupted  series  of  national  upheavals,  begin- 
ning with  the  French  Revolution,  which  have  disturbed 
the  world  since  the  promulgation  of  Rousseau's  theory,  the 
startling  and  ever-increasing  number  of  assassinations  of 


GENESIS    OF   SOCIALISM  195 

rulers,  and  the  impunity  with  which  anyone  can  plan  the 
overthrow  of  existing  institutions  show  how  strong  a  hold 
this  doctrine  has  taken  on  the  public  mind.  Rousseau's 
Social  Compact  is  the  Socialist's  Magna  Charta. 

The  theory  is  sometimes  expressed  in  the  formula  that 
"  all  government  is  based  on  the  consent  of  the  governed," 
which  is  equally  untenable.  Consent  is  certainly  not  re- 
quired for  a  father  to  govern  his  children,  nor  for  God  to 
govern  His  creatures.  Nor  is  it  true  of  civil  government. 
The  police  force,  the  prisons,  the  scaffolds,  the  electric 
chairs  are  so  many  denials  of  such  a  pretence.  In  one  sense 
it  may  be  true,  namely,  that  when  the  people  recognize  that 
the  will  of  the  ruler  is  not  the  unwarranted,  unauthorized, 
and  baseless  claim  of  an  individual  who  in  one  way  or 
another  has  achieved  power,  but  the  concrete  expression 
of  the  will  of  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe,  Who 
decrees  that  all  governments  should  proceed  along  the  lines 
of  right  and  justice,  then  they  willingly  consent  to  be  gov- 
erned; but  such  consent  is  rather  the  assurance  of  peace 
than  the  foundation  of  any  right  to  rule. 

While  this  philosophical  delusion  was  misleading  the  pub- 
lic policy  of  nations,  an  economic  transformation  was 
taking  place  in  almost  every  civilized  country.  That  change 
is  commonly  described  as  the  Great  Industrial  Revolution, 
inaugurated  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  through 
the  instrumentality  of  machinery,  and  the  newly  discovered 
forces  in  nature,  which  effected  a  sudden  and  stupendous 
expansion  of  manufacturing  industries  with  a  concomitant 
extension  of  trade,  and  brought  about  the  displacement,  the 
rearrangement,  and  in  some  instances,  especially  in  the  be- 
ginning, the  degradation  and  the  enslavement  of  whole  sec- 
tions of  the  working  populations  of  the  world. 

It  is  an  error,  however,  to  imagine  that  there  were  no 
great  industrial  aggregations  prior  to  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. Taking  France  as  an  instance,  there  were  in  the 


196  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

eighteenth  century  as  many  as  10,000  cloth-makers  in  the 
district  of  Givonnes  alone;  the  ribbon  industry  of  St. 
Etienne  and  St.  Chamond  employed  26,000  people  in  1755 ; 
and  in  1760  around  Rouen  45,000  people  were  working 
for  twelve  employers.  This  fact  will  be  properly  appre- 
ciated when  we  learn  that  in  a  great  industrial  centre  like 
Worcester,  Massachusetts,  there  are  only  25,595  employed 
in  the  manufactories,  and  that  those  establishments  run  up 
beyond  a  thousand  in  number.  The  difference  between 
then  and  now  is  that  in  former  times  the  factory  system 
was  unknown,  and  there  was  not  a  distinct  class  described 
as  the  workingmen,  nor  were  they  distinguished  by  that 
other  odious  appellation,  the  proletariate.  Many  of  the 
old  operatives  were  government  employees,  engaged  in  the 
royal  monopolies;  in  other  establishments  the  master  was 
himself  a  workingman,  on  the  same  social  level  as  his  men; 
and  the  peasants  also  were  engaged  at  these  industries  in 
their  homes.  But  when  individual  competition  began,  vast 
capital  was  accumulated  in  the  hands  of  a  few,  and  the  man- 
agers of  these  enterprises  became  controlling  factors  in 
the  affairs  of  the  nation. 

More  than  that.  The  political  importance  which  they 
acquired,  both  by  their  ever-growing  riches  and  the  vast 
numbers  of  people  whom  they  influenced  or  controlled,  pro- 
foundly modified  that  section  of  society  which  had  been  so 
far  regarded  as  the  dominant  class,  namely,  the  aristoc- 
racy. Wealthy  plebeians  were  prompted  almost  as  a  mat- 
ter of  business  to  purchase  a  place  among  the  nobles;  not 
a  difficult  thing,  because  the  stigma  which  attached  to  trade 
had  long  been  removed,  even  princes  not  disdaining  to 
profit  by  commercial  speculations.  Impecunious  noblemen 
also,  whom  the  centralizing  character  of  most  governments 
had  long  debarred  from  the  administration  of  public  affairs, 
welcomed  such  accessions  to  their  families.  The  conse- 
quence was  that  to  the  aristocracy  of  birth  succeeded  the 


GENESIS    OF   SOCIALISM  197 

aristocracy  of  wealth,  with  the  same  arrogance  and  aloof- 
ness, but  without  the  same  Christianity.  Hence  a  deeper 
and  broader  line  of  demarcation  and  antagonism  between 
the  new  lords,  anxious  to  assert  their  superiority,  and  the 
classes  which  they  sprung  from  and  which  they  endeavored 
to  forget.  In  view  of  the  coming  battle  this  was  a  serious 
calamity,  which  became  more  grave  as  Christianity  lost  its 
hold  on  both  parties.  Even  where  affiliation  with  the  upper 
classes  was  not  effected,  the  old  division  of  gentle  and 
simple  disappeared,  and  between  the  favorites  of  prog- 
ress and  the  victims  of  poverty  a  wide  cleavage  was  made. 

A  French  observer  of  English  conditions  finds  that  "  the 
practical  Englishman,  the  successful  business  man,  who  is 
proud  to  be  a  merchant  and  nothing  else,  has  risen  to  great 
social  and  political  prominence.  He  usurps  the  old  tra- 
ditions and  privileges  of  the  class  above,  and  exploits  in  an 
unexampled  manner  the  lives  and  energy  of  all  beneath. 
For  him  the  rationalist  philosophers,  the  utilitarian  moral- 
ists, the  official  economists  of  the  mercantile  school  are  in 
the  place  of  a  spiritual  hierarchy,  a  kind  of  priestly  class. 
Himself  the  issue  of  certain  facts  and  certain  changes,  he 
has  on  his  side  whatever  there  is  of  intellectual  authority 
in  England." 

In  America,  where  nobility  of  birth  is  unknown,  the  ideal 
man  is  admittedly  the  successful  business  speculator,  the 
daring  financier,  the  captain  of  industry.  "  Over  our 
plains,"  says  a  recent  writer,  "  the  Genius  of  Industry 
ranges  unchallenged,  naked,  and  unashamed,"  and  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  lately  felt  called  upon  to  say  that  "  No  one 
can  be  so  blind  as  not  to  see  that  in  our  growing  and  con- 
suming madness  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  with  its  conse- 
quent indifference  to  political  duty,  there  is  a  danger  that 
our  social  and  industrial  equality  will  be  destroyed,  and  our 
political  independence  made  the  sport  of  demagogues." 

As  long  ago  as  1879  no  less  a  personage  than  the  Czar 


198  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

of  Russia  said  of  us :  "  Your  great  industrial  development 
has  built  up  very  large  fortunes  in  few  hands,  and  the  con- 
ditions such  fortunes  produce  must  bring  on  a  class  conflict 
that  cannot  fail  to  make  a  test  of  the  stability  of  your  insti- 
tutions. The  men  who  have  those  fortunes  know  only  the 
law  of  greed;  they  have  no  respect  for  the  rights  of  others, 
and  they  will  surely  make  an  effort  to  use  the  strong  arm 
of  government  to  enslave  the  people.  They  will  use  the 
public  franchises  you  grant  with  so  liberal  and  so  dangerous 
a  hand  to  tax  the  people.  They  will  organize  into  groups 
to  increase  their  power,  and  their  aggressions  will  as  surely 
drive  the  body  of  your  people  to  the  enactment  of  laws 
which  may  be  most  hurtful  to  the  general  prosperity.  I 
see  a  great  conflict  which  must  soon  come  in  America  be- 
tween the  few  who  have  vast  fortunes  and  the  many  re- 
duced to  a  kind  of  industrial  slavery."  (Independent, 
March  24,  1904.) 

That  commerce  should  preponderate  in  determining  the 
policies  of  the  nation  was  inevitable.  As  early  as  1776  we 
hear  Seguier  remonstrating  with  Louis  XVI,  that  "  Corpo- 
rations are  a  chain  whose  first  link  is  connected  with  the 
authority  of  the  throne,  and  it  would  be  perilous  to  break 
it.  The  mere  idea  of  doing  so  should  fill  us  with  terror;  it 
would  mean  the  reconstruction  of  the  whole  political  edifice 
from  top  to  bottom." 

This  is  much  truer  now.  Acquisition  of  power  through 
commercial  success  is  almost  the  exclusive  aim  of  the  great 
nations  and  the  great  men  of  our  times,  and  industrialism 
of  every  kind  has  made  itself  the  dominant  spirit  of  the 
age.  It  affects  the  decisions  of  statesmen;  it  shapes  the 
policies  of  governments;  it  dictates  treaties  of  peace  and 
declarations  of  war;  it  compels  the  establishment  of  stand- 
ing armies  and  the  building  of  monstrous  fleets  to  protect 
and  promote  the  interests  of  trade  all  over  the  world;  it 
imposes  enormous  burdens  of  taxation,  which  fall  heaviest 


GENESIS   OF   SOCIALISM  199 

on  the  poor;  it  multiplies,  indeed,  the  wealth  of  nations, 
but  it  increases  the  opportunities  for  personal  and  political 
corruption;  and  it  is  now  absolutely  without  control,  for  its 
cardinal  tenet  is  that  religious  principles  have  no  concern  in 
the  business  enterprises  and  world-politics  of  to-day.  No 
wonder  that  thinking  men  are  filled  with  alarm. 

Besides  establishing  this  new  and  powerful  class  of 
moneyed  magnates,  the  needs  of  commerce  and  industry 
naturally  led  to  the  centralization  of  manufactures  in  one 
place;  the  facilities  for  cheaper  and  quicker  production  and 
distribution  rendering  it  imperative. 

Two  results  followed:  first,  the  destruction  of  the  peas- 
ant class.  Machinery,  as  well  as  the  discoveries  of  the 
new  science  of  chemistry,  had  the  effect  of  making  a  large 
agricultural  population  superfluous;  while  at  the  same  time 
the  gigantic  scale  on  which  modern  farming  began  to  be 
conducted  transformed  the  former  peasant  proprietors  into 
employees.  We  are  familiar  with  this;  but  the  Revue  de 
Paris  tells  us  that  this  change  is  now  taking  place  even  in 
France,  where  the  small  landowner  was  hitherto  considered 
the  principal  strength  of  the  nation.  The  second  result  was 
the  aggregation  of  vast  multitudes  within  the  walls  of  fac- 
tories and  at  the  mouths  of  pits,  in  conditions  which  espe- 
cially in  the  beginning  were  a  disgrace  to  civilization.  These 
displaced  millions  were  valued  mainly  for  their  power  to 
increase  the  wealth  of  their  masters,  and,  as  some  one  has 
said,  were  "  a  regimented  and  rightless  proletariate  as  truly 
as  were  the  ancient  toilers  of  Egypt." 

It  is  true  that  certain  economists  find  the  condition  of 
this  class  to  be  much  better  than  it  was  before  trade  had 
brought  about  these  changes.  Thus  Rae,  in  his  "  Con- 
temporary Socialism,"  informs  us  that  in  1668  the  average 
income  of  a  working  family  in  England  was  £12  125.  and 
is  now  £8 1  ;  that  74  per  cent  of  the  population  were  then 
breadwinners  and  earned  26  per  cent  of  the  income  of 


200  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

the  whole  country;  whereas,  in  1867,  80  per  cent  were 
breadwinners  and  earned  40  per  cent  of  the  income  of  the 
country.  According  to  Mulhall,  seventy-five  years  ago  the 
workman  toiled  90  to  100  hours  a  week,  but  now  only 
56^,  while  wages  have  increased  12  and  in  some  cases 
40  per  cent.  Carroll  D.  Wright  says  that  wages  rose  from 
$100  a  year  in  1850  for  70  hours  a  week  to  $250  in  1880 
for  60  hours,  and  he  finds  factory  life  much  better  for 
light,  air,  and  sanitation  than  in  the  old  system  of  domestic 
manufacture. 

Other  students  of  the  question,  however,  take  different 
views,  and  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  while  the  laboring 
man  receives  absolutely  more  pay  for  his  work,  yet  his  pov- 
erty is  much  more  acute  by  contrast.  His  clothes,  though 
cheaper,  are  generally  the  result  of  sweating,  which  itself 
is  oppression  of  the  workingman;  they  are  quickly  de- 
stroyed by  the  atmosphere  in  which  the  laborer  lives  and 
the  work  he  is  engaged  in.  Devas  calculates  that  English 
workmen  waste  millions  every  year  in  this  fashion.  The 
food  he  eats,  though  cheaper  and  more  varied,  is  frequently 
adulterated  and  unwholesome;  the  dwellings  he  occupies 
sometimes  consume  twenty  per  cent  of  his  income,  and  are 
so  indecently  crowded  as  to  be  notoriously  and  shamefully 
prejudicial  to  health  and  morality;  the  air  he  breathes  at 
his  work  is  often  poisonous;  the  smoke  and  soot  that  hang 
over  the  great  industrial  centres  deprive  him  of  the  light 
of  the  sun,  and  defile  everything  with  grime;  the  pollution 
of  every  running  stream,  which  modern  industry  univer- 
sally and  stupidly  converts  into  sewers,  makes  even  water 
hard  to  procure ;  even  if  not  crippled  at  his  work,  the  work- 
man is  liable  to  be  laid  off  when  still  young,  forty  being  in 
some  instances  the  time  limit;  when  maimed  or  killed,  there 
is  little  or  no  provision  for  his  helpless  family,  and  such  a 
contingency  is  not  remote,  for  Mulhall  puts  the  figure  of 
those  who  are  killed  in  Great  Britain  at  18,000  a  year, 


GENESIS   OF   SOCIALISM  201 

while  we  in  the  United  States  run  up  to  30,000,  the  mines 
being  mainly  responsible;  and  in  any  event,  the  future  has 
little  hope  for  the  discontented  toiler  who  reads  that  in 
England  and  Wales,  according  to  the  official  accounts,  there 
are  nearly  400,000  dependent  paupers,  not  to  speak  of  the 
multitudes  that  are  living  from  hand  to  mouth. 

Which  of  these  conflicting  testimonies  is  true  matters 
little.  The  fact  is  that  the  workingman  of  to-day,  whether 
better  off  or  not,  is  ploughed  with  discontent,  although  fac- 
tory legislation  has  remedied  many  of  the  original  abuses 
and  private  philanthropy  has  been  busy  in  ameliorating  his 
condition.  He  recognizes  that  he  is  a  new  factor  in  the 
world.  He  knows  that  he  is  not  the  serf  that  he  was  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  when  any  kind  of  labor  was 
a  badge  of  slavery  and  when  the  police  were  ordered  to 
exert  special  vigilance  on  the  working  classes  as  being  natu- 
rally prone  to  disorder.  Even  the  Revolution  of  '89, 
which  he  wrongly  regards  as  the  first  step  in  his  emanci- 
pation, used  all  the  power  of  the  State  against  him.  Napo- 
leon in  his  turn  gave  the  laboring  classes  no  consideration 
whatever.  On  the  other  side  of  the  Channel  the  condition 
of  Sir  Robert  Peel's  English  operatives  in  1802  in  some 
respects  surpassed  the  horrors  of  African  slavery.  Yet  he 
himself  was  a  master  manufacturer,  to  whom  the  new  sys- 
tem of  labor  had  brought  wealth  and  power  and  station. 
The  attitude  of  the  government  toward  the  workers  may 
be  realized  by  the  fact  that  Peel  was  unable  to  get  an  act 
passed  in  Parliament  "  for  the  preservation  of  the  health 
and  morality  of  apprentices  and  others  employed  in  cot- 
ton factories."  During  the  bourgeois  regime  in  France 
from  1815  to  1849  tneY  counted  for  naught,  and  it  was 
only  under  Napoleon  III,  who  boasted  of  being  a  Socialist, 
that  they  were  allowed  the  right  to  assemble,  to  state  their 
grievances,  and  ultimately  to  vote  when  universal  suffrage 
was  accorded. 


202  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

Since  then  the  laborer  has  been  transformed  mentally, 
morally,  socially.  He  is  now  one  of  an  organized  body,  a 
distinct  class  in  society,  and  in  close  union  not  only  with 
men  of  his  own  trade  and  country,  but  with  those  of  every 
other  country,  and  absolutely  separated  from  and  antago- 
nistic to  those  who  employ  him.  The  use  of  machinery 
has  not  degraded  him.  On  the  contrary,  it  has  made  him 
more  intelligent,  and  his  increased  technological  and  pro- 
fessional education  is  continually  quickening  his  percep- 
tions, which  began  to  be  trained  in  the  primary  schools  and 
are  kept  on  the  alert  by  evening  classes,  lectures,  reading, 
etc.  He  reads  and  he  thinks,  both  badly  at  times,  it  is  true, 
but  he  does  both.  Moreover,  he  has  been  taught  from  child- 
hood that  he  is  every  man's  equal,  and  demagogues  and  a 
part  of  the  press,  especially  his  own,  din  into  his  ears  that 
he  is  defrauded  of  his  patrimony,  that  he  has  a  right  to  his 
share  in  the  wealth  which  he  sees  everywhere  lavished  in 
all  sorts  of  criminal  indulgence,  that  governments  are  cor- 
rupt and  are  in  the  hands  of  the  moneyed  classes;  that  be- 
cause of  the  ballot  he  is  the  controlling  political  factor  in 
the  world,  that  a  great  and  mighty  change  is  rapidly  com- 
ing of  which  he  will  reap  the  first  and  greatest  benefit,  and 
that  he  has  only  to  organize  and  wait  for  the  signal  to  be 
given. 

Unfortunately,  while  all  this  was  going  on,  the  reli- 
gious spirit  of  the  world  deteriorated.  The  principle  of 
the  Protestant  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century,  which 
authorized  everyone  to  be  his  own  judge  in  the  matter  of 
religion,  developed  in  the  eighteenth  century  into  the  teach- 
ings of  rationalism  and  materialism;  the  former  doing  away 
with  the  supernatural,  while  the  latter  denied  that  a  man 
had  a  soul  and  a  hereafter.  Both  doctrines  descended  nat- 
urally into  the  degrading  evolution  of  to-day,  which  is  re- 
garded as  especially  socialistic  and  which  teaches  that  the 
crimes  of  men  and  nations  are  only  the  phenomena  of  great 


GENESIS    OF   SOCIALISM  203 

foreordained  cosmic  changes,  over  which  man  has  no  con- 
trol, and  so  does  away  with  the  moral  law. 

These  doctrines,  accepted  as  the  gospel  of  what  are  called 
the  educated  classes  of  to-day,  have  by  means  of  innumer- 
able essays,  romances,  public  conferences,  and  editorials 
filtered  down  into  the  minds  of  the  modern  workingmen. 
Finally,  for  the  greater  part  of  them,  Christianity  is  not 
merely  a  dead  issue,  but  is  treated  with  scorn  and  contempt, 
every  effort  being  made  by  their  instructors  to  render  it 
ridiculous  and  offensive.  Churchmen  are  hypocrites  and 
moneygetters ;  Christ  is  no  better  than  Buddha  or  Con- 
fucius or  Mahomet,  and  if  God  exists  He  is  a  tyrant  and 
a  monster. 

Out  of  these  conditions  in  the  ethical,  political,  religious, 
domestic,  and  commercial  world  Socialism  arose. 

It  presents  itself  under  various  aspects  and  with  ap- 
parently different  objects,  but  all  tending  remotely  or  imme- 
diately to  one  end,  namely,  the  change  or  overthrow  of  all 
existing  governments.  They  may  be  classified  as  follows : 

1.  Social   Democracy   or   Collectivism,   which   demands 
the  appropriation  and  administration  by  the  State  of  all 
capital  and  instruments  of  labor.     This  is  claimed  by  its 
adherents  as  the  only  genuine  form  of  Socialism. 

2.  Positive   Communism,  which  enlarges  on  Collectiv- 
ism and  aims  at  the  transfer  of  all  goods  to  one  adminis- 
tration,  permitting  the  use  of  some  things,  however,   as 
private  property. 

3.  Moderate    Positive    Communism,    which,    like    Col- 
lectivism,  advocates   only  the  withdrawal   of  capital   and 
instruments  of  labor  from  private  hands,  to  be  administered, 
however,  not  by  the  State,  but  by  labor  organizations. 

4.  Negative  Communism,  which  calls  for  the  abolition 
of  all  private  property. 

5.  Scientific   Anarchy,   which    does    not    desire    violent 
measures,  at  least  for  the  present.     It  is  supposedly  aca- 


204  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

demic  as  yet  and  teaches  that  the  management  of  capital 
and  labor  should  be  put,  not  in  the  hands  of  the  State  or 
of  the  Labor  Unions,  but  in  the  control  of  communes,  which 
are  to  be  independent  of  any  central  government,  as  were 
the  ancient  Greek  republics. 

6.  Anarchy  proper,  which  calls  for  the  immediate  use 
of  fire  and  sword. 

7.  Agrarian  Socialism,  which  demands  the  confiscation 
of  land. 

8.  Socialism  of  the  Chair,  which  advocates  merely  an 
increase  of  government  paternalism. 

The  propagation  of  these  various  theories  began  with 
Saint-Simon  (1776—1825),  who  first  projected  the  idea 
in  the  world  that  labor  is  the  source  of  all  value,  but  he 
urged  nothing  practical.  The  Scotchman,  Adam  Smith, 
in  the  preceding  century,  had  set  down  labor  as  one  of  the 
sources  of  wealth,  but  not  the  only  one.  Fourrier  (1772— 
1837)  first  urged  the  organization  of  labor.  Each  pro- 
prietor was  to  contribute  all  his  wealth  to  a  common  fund, 
so  that  everyone  might  follow  that  particular  occupation 
for  which  he  felt  an  attraction;  but  the  forcible  abolition 
of  private  property  was  not  suggested.  Louis  Blanc  ( 1 8 1 1— 
1882)  found  the  evils  of  the  day  originated  in  private  com- 
petition, and  wanted  the  State  to  be  the  chief  producer,  so 
as  to  make  private  enterprise  impossible.  Karl  Rodber- 
tus,  in  Germany  (1805—1875),  pleaded  for  the  abolition 
of  real  estate  and  capital,  as  private  possessions.  Next 
came  Karl  Marx,  the  greatest  of  all  Socialist  writers  and 
leaders.  In  his  work  entitled  Capital,  he  maintained  that 
labor  is  the  only  source  of  exchange  value,  and  that  the 
surplus  above  that,  which  now  goes  to  the  capitalist,  should 
be  contributed  to  a  common  fund.  Marx  is  the  founder  of 
the  International  or  the  union  of  labor  associations  of  all 
nations.  Associated  with  him  was  Lassalle  (1825-1864), 
whose  Workingman's  Programme,  delivered  at  the  Berlin 


GENESIS    OF   SOCIALISM  205 

Workingman's  Club,  is  called  The  Wittenberg  Thesis  of 
Socialism,  alluding,  of  course,  to  Luther's  declaration  at  the 
time  of  the  Reformation.  He  is  famous  for  his  theory  of 
the  Iron  Law  of  Wages,  which  even  Bishop  Ketteler 
adopted,  but  which  the  Trades  Unions,  by  pushing  up  the 
scale  of  wages  as  they  wished,  have  shown  to  be  false. 
Bebel  and  Liebknecht  are  the  most  prominent  Socialists 
to-day,  the  former  of  whom  was  originally  a  bitter  oppo- 
nent of  the  movement.  The  Russians,  Bakounin  and 
Krapotkin,  are  the  chief  apostles  of  anarchy;  the  former 
propagated  it  in  Italy,  in  spite  of  Mazzini.  There  are 
others  distinguished  in  the  movement,  like  Engles,  Baboeuf, 
Ferri,  Bernstein;  but  these  will  suffice. 

What  gives  significance  to  it  is  that  the  doctrine  is 
preached  by  representatives  of  every  class  of  society. 
Saint-Simon  was  a  noble,  Baboeuf  a  plebeian,  Bakounin  and 
Krapotkin  princes;  and,  what  is  very  remarkable,  accord- 
ing to  Gualtieri,  whose  treatise  on  Socialism  is  the  most 
scholarly  and  comprehensive  work  yet  published,  the  chief 
apostles  of  Socialism  in  Italy  are  the  middle  class,  or  bour- 
geoisie, whose  existence  above  all  others  is  threatened. 
"  Socialism,"  he  says,  "  is  not  produced  spontaneously  in 
the  lower  strata  of  society,  it  is  not  the  natural  fruit  of  the 
sufferings  of  the  lowly,  and  of  the  tyranny  and  oppression 
of  the  rich,  but  is  propagated  and  fomented  among  the  ig- 
norant masses  by  members  of  the  middle  class,  who  have 
never  felt  these  sufferings  nor  undergone  this  oppression. 
Various  motives  impel  them  to  take  part  in  this  agitation. 
In  some  it  is  a  real  desire  to  mitigate  the  hardships  of  the 
poor,  in  others  it  is  envy  of  those  higher  placed  than  them- 
selves, and  the  desire  to  secure  their  own  elevation  by  the 
overthrow  of  the  existing  order.  The  seed  is  nearly  always 
laid  in  the  schools  by  teachers  who  abuse  their  office  to  in- 
culcate their  political  principles.  Numbers  of  masters  and 
professors,  in  primary  and  secondary  schools  as  well  as  in 


206  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

the  universities,  preach  Socialism  and  hold  the  most  sub- 
versive doctrines,  which  they  proclaim  openly  from  the 
chair  or  platform."  (Tablet,  March  5,  1904.)  On  the 
other  hand,  in  France  the  bourgeoisie,  which  now  includes 
all  property  owners,  are  considered  to  be  the  chief  enemy 
of  the  Socialists,  though  the  bourgeoisie  proper  were  really 
the  cause  of  the  French  Revolution.  De  Mun  fancies  that 
the  strong  religious  feeling  of  this  class  gives  hope  for  the 
future,  while  Bodley  considers  that  their  opposition  to  the 
collectivist  theories  of  the  Socialist  is  a  remnant  of  their 
old  Individualistic  doctrines  of  1789.  In  Germany  the 
greatest  men  in  the  movement,  Marx  and  Lassalle,  were 
Jews.  Hegel,  who  formulated  the  pantheistic  religion  of 
Socialism,  and  is  considered,  so  to  say,  its  high  priest,  was 
originally  intended  for  the  ministry.  In  Denmark  women 
are  its  most  ardent  propagandists.  In  Holland  the  leader 
is  an  ex-Lutheran  minister,  and  in  Belgium  a  millionaire. 

The  movement  has  made  the  greatest  progress  in  Ger- 
many, because  property  and  comfort  are  badly  distributed 
there,  and  because  its  doctrines  have  been  scientifically 
studied.  Even  when  Bismarck  resorted  to  repressive  meas- 
ures, after  the  attempt  to  assassinate  the  old  Emperor, 
there  were  155  Socialist  newspapers  in  the  Empire.  The 
Socialist  vote  fell  off  30  per  cent,  but  now  they  have  81  rep- 
resentatives in  Parliament,  and  Bebel,  the  leader,  is  said 
to  control  3,000,000  votes.  However,  it  is  not  sure  that 
the  wonderful  increase  in  the  last  election  was  altogether 
due  to  sympathy  with  the  party.  Bebel  maintains  that  the 
army  is  honeycombed  with  Socialism,  which,  considering 
the  harsh  treatment  meted  out  to  the  rank  and  file,  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at.  Over-education  is  responsible  also  to 
some  extent.  Thirty-one  per  cent  of  the  physicians  of  Ber- 
lin, it  is  said,  earn  only  $750  a  year,  and  all  the  professions 
are  overcrowded.  It  is  evident  that  there  is  room  there  for 
discontent. 


GENESIS    OF   SOCIALISM  207 

In  France,  for  the  last  six  years,  the  government  has 
been  controlled  by  the  Socialists,  and  Jaures,  their  leader, 
boasts  that  it  cannot  exist  without  them.  Their  represen- 
tatives in  the  Ministry  are  men  like  Millerand  and  Pelletan, 
and  in  the  Chambres  their  cause  is  advocated  by  most  elo- 
quent speakers,  like  Viviani  and  others.  The  great  cities 
are  the  chief  centres  of  the  movement,  the  peasantry  hav- 
ing no  liking  for  a  party  which  proclaims  the  destruction 
of  peasant  proprietorship;  but  that  preservative  element  is 
now  being  eliminated. 

It  is  not  strong  with  the  Magyars,  who  are  generally  in 
comfortable  circumstances,  though  it  is  said  to  control 
1,000,000  votes  in  Austria.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Poles, 
although  poor,  are  not  enthusiastic  about  the  movement. 
If  they  declare  for  it,  hatred  of  Germany  and  Russia 
prompts  them.  The  Czechs  of  Bohemia  are  not  ardent  for 
it,  but  the  Italians  are.  Bakounin,  the  Russian  anarchist, 
introduced  it  there,  but  the  anarchist  feature  has  faded 
somewhat ;  and  politics  are  resorted  to  for  its  advancement, 
as  well  as  the  infamous  journals  like  the  Avanti  and  the 
Asino,  which  are  scattered  broadcast  to  discredit  religion 
and  corrupt  the  people. 

The  universal  and  rapidly  growing  distress  in  the  three 
classes  of  Italian  society  facilitates  the  work  of  propagating 
it;  but  Laveleye  very  curiously  says  it  can  never  make  much 
headway  there,  because  there  is  no  metropolis  which  can 
be  made  a  centre  of  agitation.  "  The  malaria  which  makes 
Rome  uninhabitable  for  the  greater  part  of  the  year  will 
long  preserve  her  from  the  horrors  of  a  Commune."  It  is 
physical  against  moral  disease. 

As  far  back  as  1873  there  were  already  300,000  So- 
cialists in  Spain;  but  the  party  is  rent  with  divisions.  Sin- 
gularly enough,  the  peasants  are  more  socialistic  and  com- 
munistic than  the  workingmen,  the  reason  being  that  they 
dislike  a  general  government  and  cling  to  their  old  forms 


208  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

of  communal  administration.  In  fact,  the  workingmen 
were,  at  least  some  time  ago,  strongly  against  the  movement. 

In  Portugal  Socialism  does  not  prosper.  Switzerland 
is  swarming  with  foreign  Socialists,  but  the  Swiss  them- 
selves do  not  favor  the  movement,  possibly  because  most 
of  their  Cantons  have  long  adopted  many  of  the  Collectivist 
ideas  in  their  methods  of  government.  England  is  the  hope 
and  despair  of  the  Continental  Socialists.  Everything  is 
ready  for  a  revolution,  but  the  people  will  not  rise,  and 
Marx  said  that  any  proletariate  movement  in  which  Eng- 
land is  not  a  factor  is  like  a  storm  in  a  glass  of  water.  Bel- 
gium, on  account  of  its  manufactures,  seems  well  adapted 
to  the  work,  but  it  has  not  thriven  there.  Laveleye  attributes 
the  ill-success  to  free  discussion.  It  is  rather  due  to  the 
sturdy  Catholicity  of  the  country.  But  the  most  remark- 
able of  all  is  there  is  no  Socialism  in  Ireland,  although  it 
seems  a  miracle  for  a  country  seething  for  centuries  with 
economic  and  political  discontent  to  escape  such  a  visitation. 

The  most  serious  feature  of  Socialism  is  that  it  has  or 
is  a  religion.  Like  all  aggregations  of  men,  it  cannot  get 
along  without  it.  Witness  Freemasonry,  with  its  rites  and 
symbols,  its  ceremonies,  its  dogmas,  its  altars,  its  priest- 
hood. Socialism  has  its  religious  tenets,  and  is  not  merely 
a  philanthropic  movement  or  a  political  platform.  If  that 
was  understood,  many  who  support  it  now  would  abjure  it 
absolutely.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  you  can  scarcely  take  up 
a  Socialist  book  that  attempts  to  treat  the  matter  scientifi- 
cally without  finding  some  reference,  directly  or  indirectly, 
to  the  teachings  of  the  German  pantheist  Hegel,  who  for- 
mulated its  dogmas  and  is  considered  its  prophet  and  high 
priest.  Like  all  false  religions,  it  develops  a  fanaticism 
which  it  cannot  control. 

Hegel  taught  that  religion,  like  all  else,  follows  the 
law  of  evolution.  It  began  with  the  beliefs  of  the  Orient; 
they  gave  way  in  turn  to  the  religions  of  Greece  and  Rome, 


GENESIS   OF   SOCIALISM  209 

which  subsequently  succumbed  to  Christianity.  It  is  time 
now  for  Christianity  to  be  supplanted  by  the  worship  of 
Humanity,  which  is  the  true  divinity.  We  are  all  parts  of 
that  divinity,  and  our  individual  relations  to  it  constitute 
the  code  of  ethics  of  the  modern  world. 

Reducing  this  theory  to  a  practical  working  programme, 
Marx,  in  his  Secret  Societies  in  Switzerland,  writes :  "  We 
wage  war  against  all  prevailing  ideas  about  religion.  The 
idea  of  God  is  the  keystone  of  a  perverted  civilization,  and 
it  is  needful  to  sweep  it  from  the  face  of  the  earth." 

"  God  and  humanity,"  says  Prudhon,  in  his  Confessions 
d'un  revolutionaire,  "  are  two  irreconcilable  enemies,  and 
the  first  duty  of  an  enlightened  man  is  to  drive  away  merci- 
lessly the  idea  of  God  from  the  mind  and  the  conscience. 
Atheism  ought  to  be  the  law  of  morals  and  of  the  intelli- 
gence; the  atheism  of  Spinoza  and  of  Hegel;  atheism,  in 
brief,  which  is  idealism  raised  to  its  highest  power."  In 
the  French  Chambres,  Viviani,  the  most  pronounced  Social- 
ist orator,  proclaimed  that  the  fight  against  the  Congrega- 
tions was  not  against  clericalism  nor  Catholicity  nor  Chris- 
tianity, but  against  all  religion.  And  Buisson,  one  of  the 
chief  officials  in  the  Ministry  of  Education,  thus  expresses 
himself:  "  In  all  the  story  about  God  and  the  world  which 
Catholic  dogma  presents,  there  is  not  one  single  word  which 
does  not  provoke,  I  will  not  say,  indignation,  for  in  order 
to  be  indignant  one  would  have  to  believe,  but  a  mute  and 
melancholy  denial.  The  only  possible  result  of  all  rational 
education  must  be  the  evolution  of  the  religion  of  the  past 
into  the  irreligion  of  the  future."  Not  to  quote  further, 
"  the  triumph  of  the  Galilean,"  says  Senator  Delpech,  "  has 
lasted  long  enough.  It  is  now  His  time  to  die." 

From  all  this,  several  very  disastrous  consequences  ensue. 
First,  as  regards  the  individual. 

If  it  be  true  that  man  is  part  of  the  divinity,  then  he 
is  absolutely  his  own  master;  he  is  a  law  unto  himself  (an 


210  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

error,  let  it  be  noted,  that  is  admitted  by  multitudes  outside 
the  Socialist  ranks) ;  he  is  not  only  not  to  be  condemned  but 
commended  for  satisfying  all  his  natural  wants  and  desires ; 
and  on  the  same  ground,  if  he  is  one  of  the  disinherited  of 
fortune,  he  admits,  as  an  axiom,  the  Socialist  doctrine  that 
all  property  is  theft.  In  brief,  this  pantheistic  doctrine 
befogs  the  mind  with  a  pernicious  delusion,  which  is  itself 
a  calamity,  perverts  the  will,  and  makes  the  baser  passions 
of  men  dominate,  while  it  authorizes  and  applauds  robbery 
and  murder. 

Secondly,  it  aims  at  the  destruction  of  the  family. 

The  fundamental  doctrine  of  this  new  movement  is  that 
there  can  be  no  human  or  divine  legislation  with  regard 
to  the  institution  of  marriage;  that  human  passion  is  the 
only  guide  as  to  its  duration;  that  promiscuity  of  inter- 
course is  the  ideal  condition;  that  children  belong  to  the 
State;  that  mothers  should,  according  to  Bebel,  bring  them 
forth  in  State  institutions,  and  then  be  free  to  contract  what- 
ever other  alliance  may  suit  their  fancy.  For  the  further- 
ance of  this  end,  Free  Love  Communities  should  be  estab- 
lished where  it  is  possible,  and,  where  it  is  not,  divorce  laws 
should  be  enacted  of  such  a  nature  as  to  bring  about  the 
same  result. 

Thirdly,  it  not  only  inculcates  individual  and  domestic 
anarchy,  but  it  professedly  aims  at  the  ruin  of  all  exist- 
ing governments.  Thus  Marx,  in  his  Secret  Societies  in 
Switzerland,  says :  "  We  content  ourselves  at  present  with 
laying  the  foundations  of  revolutions,  and  shall  have  de- 
served well  when  we  shall  have  excited  hatred  and  contempt 
for  all  existing  institutions.  We  wage  war  against  all  pre- 
vailing ideas  about  religion,  state,  country,  patriotism." 

Liebknecht,  his  lieutenant,  candidly  explains  the  differ- 
ent methods  to  be  adopted :  "  A  general  ought  to  change 
his  tactics  according  to  the  movements  of  the  enemy.  Were 
we  living  in  Russia  we  should  adopt  the  tactics  of  the 


GENESIS    OF    SOCIALISM  211 

Nihilist.  We  should  employ  all  the  means  which  the  mod- 
ern State  affords  to  turn  people  against  it." 

The  Socialist  party,  which  met  in  Cincinnati  as  far  back 
as  1885,  besides  declaring  for  government  ownership  of 
railroads,  canals,  ferries,  gas,  telephone,  telegraphs,  etc., 
insisting  on  recalling  of  all  land  grants,  the  furnishing  of 
meals,  clothing,  etc.,  to  children,  and  the  granting  of  di- 
vorce on  mutual  consent,  calls  for  the  abolition  of  the 
Senate  and  Vice-Presidency  of  the  United  States.  All  these 
demands  might  be  justified  if  the  source  of  authority  is  the 
people,  and  if  they  have  a  right  to  revoke  it  at  pleasure. 

To  expedite  this  work  of  destruction  of  existing  govern- 
ments, Marx  founded  his  International  Society,  which 
unites  the  Socialists  of  every  country  in  one  body,  irrespec- 
tive of  nationality,  and  thus  secures  their  cooperation  in 
all  the  vast  network  of  schemes  for  the  control  of  educa- 
tion, for  enforcing  laws  of  divorce,  for  the  enslavement  or 
extirpation  of  Christianity,  the  removal  of  national  fron- 
tiers, the  dissolution  of  the  national  armies,  in  a  word,  for 
a  complete  and  universal  social  and  political  revolution. 

In  France,  where  Socialism  is  most  successful,  there  is 
no  concealment  of  the  purpose  to  do  away  absolutely  with 
love  of  country,  beginning  with  destroying  it  in  the  hearts 
of  the  children.  While  we  are  reverencing  our  flag  and 
floating  it  from  every  school  house,  school  teachers  there 
can  denounce  the  national  banner  as  an  old  rag  or  an  old 
petticoat;  the  Review  of  Primary  Instruction  can  tell  its 
readers  that  if  the  Government  ever  attempts  to  recover 
Alsace  and  Lorraine  the  people  ought  to  establish  the  Com- 
mune to  prevent  that  result;  school  books  applaud  or  ex- 
cuse the  assassination  of  President  Carnot,  and  when  these 
acts  are  brought  before  the  Criambres  one  of  the  Ministers 
of  Education  is  found  to  defend  the  criminals  and  no  word 
of  condemnation  is  uttered  even  by  the  Prime  Minister, 
Combes.  Thus  the  work  goes  on.  Mazzini,  in  Italy,  was 


212  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

once  considered  a  patriot;  now  he  is  a  belated  idealist; 
and  the  society  which  the  National  Socialists  of  Germany 
organized  as  a  check  on  the  International  has  completely 
collapsed. 

Nor  do  they  propose  to  leave  the  accomplishment  of 
their  work  to  a  remote  future.  For  although  there  is  a 
revolutionary  and  an  evolutionary  Socialism,  and  although 
a  professor  of  the  Union  Theological  Seminary  of  New 
York  assures  the  readers  of  the  North  American  Review 
(June,  1904)  that  a  resolution  of  the  evolutionary  section 
was  recently  carried  which  declared  that  "  in  the  modern 
democratic  State  the  conquest  of  the  public  powers  by  the 
proletariate  cannot  be  the  result  of  a  coup  de  main,  but 
the  gradual  conquest  of  municipalities  and  legislative  as- 
semblies," yet  apart  from  the  fact  that  this  applies  only  to 
democratic  and  not  to  other  countries,  and  that  "  the  reso- 
lution has  caused  heated  discussion  ever  since,  and  that  the 
very  author  of  the  resolution  himself  believes  in  a  final  rev- 
olution," the  recent  Socialist  Congress  in  Italy,  held  about 
the  time  that  Loubet  was  hobnobbing  with  Victor  Emman- 
uel, could  scarcely  control  the  partisans  of  immediate  and 
violent  action. 

Finally,  it  is  absolutely  destructive  of  all  human  liberty. 
We  need  no  better  proof  of  that  than  to  glance  at  what 
is  going  on  in  France,  whose  government  the  Socialists 
boast  of  controlling.  What  is  the  position  of  every  French- 
man living  there  to-day?  He  has  no  liberty  to  write,  he 
has  no  liberty  to  speak,  he  has  no  liberty  to  pray,  he  has 
no  liberty  to  devote  himself  to  good  works,  he  has  no 
liberty  to  enter  a  church  or  to  allow  anyone  belonging  to 
him  to  do  so;  he  has  no  liberty  to  teach  virtue  to  his  chil- 
dren, or  even  to  educate  them  in  secular  matters ;  he  has  no 
liberty  to  think  differently  from  his  rulers,  and  if  he  is  sus- 
pected of  doing  so  he  has  no  liberty  to  own  an  inch  of  prop- 
erty or  to  draw  breath  in  his  native  land;  and  if  he  goes 


GENESIS    OF   SOCIALISM  213 

elsewhere  it  is  only  to  be  a  victim  of  the  International,  who 
interpellate  their  respective  governments  about  the  expul- 
sion of  those  who  were  not  allowed  to  live  in  their  own 
country  only  because  they  are  virtuous,  and  for  being  so  are 
regarded  as  rebels  and  enemies.  "  Absolute  subservience 
in  body  and  soul  in  those  who  teach,"  according  to  Jaures, 
the  leading  Socialist,  "  is  the  basis  on  which  the  present 
government  of  France  is  built." 

Thus  liberty,  family,  governments,  country,  all  are  men- 
aced by  this  new  power  that  has  arisen  in  almost  every 
country  in  the  world. 

What  is  to  be  the  issue  of  all  this?  One  of  three  things : 
universal  anarchy,  the  advent  of  some  military  leviathan, 
or  the  intervention  of  a  third  power  to  avert  both  calamities. 

Even  if  anarchy  were  not  proclaimed  as  the  purpose 
of  these  movements,  anyone  may  see  that  such  must  be 
the  result. 

Collectivism  and  all  its  subsidiary  and  derivative 
schemes  make  for  that  end.  They  begin  by  trampling  on 
property  rights,  which  all  men,  even  Socialists,  will  fight 
for.  That  is  in  fact  what  they  are  fighting  for  now.  Sec- 
ondly, the  movement  in  all  its  phases  increases  the  powers 
of  governments  by  giving  them  control  over  every  element 
of  human  life.  That  means  the  increase  of  human  slavery. 
The  old  royal  monopolies  which  could  put  men  at  whatever 
trade  might  suit  the  government  taught  that  lesson,  as  did 
Italy  in  modern  times  when  it  turned  its  employees  into 
soldiers  to  shoot  down  the  strikers.  Thirdly,  Socialism 
multiplies  opportunities  for  political  corruption,  which,  as 
everyone  knows,  is  far  enough  advanced  at  present.  It  is 
idle  to  plead  the  economy  and  more  general  comfort  which 
Collectivism  would  effect.  Like  "  the  twa  dogs,"  it  is  better 
to  have  a  shaggy  coat  than  a  sleek  one  with  a  chain-mark 
on  it.  Moreover,  Collectivist  municipalities  have  not  proved 
a  success. 


2i4  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

Nor  will  Communism  in  any  form  be  possible.  Reli- 
gious men  may  unite  in  small  bodies  and  give  up  their  will 
and  possessions,  but  not  anti-religious  mobs  or  multitudes. 
Nor  will  they  agree  with  each  other,  whether  they  are  sub- 
jected to  a  central  authority  or  ruled  by  Labor  Unions,  or 
are  independent  republics  or  without  rule  at  all.  The 
greater  States  have  not  done  so;  neither  will  they.  Nor 
will  arbitration  avail.  It  has  not  succeeded  now,  while 
some  vestiges  of  Christian  ethics  linger  in  International 
Law.  Will  it,  when  International  Law  is  based  on  the 
power  to  seize  what  is  wanted? 

But  apart  from  the  futility  or  fallaciousness  of  all  these 
theories,  the  fact  that  they  propose  to  destroy  all  civil  and 
domestic  institutions  must  necessarily  array  against  them 
every  man  who  loves  his  home,  his  family,  and  his  country, 
or  in  whom  there  remains  any  sense  of  duty  to  God.  The 
ruin  that  is  meditated  and  avowed  dispenses  with  reasoning 
on  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  the  doctrine. 

Nor  out  of  the  resulting  chaos  can  it  be  hoped  that  those 
who  have  shown  ability  only  to  destroy  will  be  able  to  con- 
struct any  of  their  ideal  states  of  the  future.  Unless  the 
history  of  mankind  is  going  suddenly  to  reverse  itself,  the 
issue,  in  the  event  not  merely  of  universal  anarchy  —  people 
will  not  wait  for  that  —  but  even  of  widespread  disorder, 
must  inevitably  be,  that  the  remorseless  tyranny  of  some 
military  ruler  will  restore  tranquillity,  if  not  peace,  through 
oppression  and  bloodshed. 

How  can  we  avert  such  a  calamity?  The  answer  is,  that 
there  must  be  a  prudent,  sincere,  unbiassed,  upright,  and 
courageous  intervention  on  the  part  of  the  State.  For  its 
own  preservation  it  must  repress  all  riot  and  disorder,  and 
for  the  same  reason  compel  the  dissolution  of  those  asso- 
ciations which  are  plotting  anarchy,  just  as  it  must  encour- 
age those  which  make  for  the  spiritual  and  temporal  better- 
ment of  the  working  classes.  It  must  legislate  especially 


GENESIS   OF   SOCIALISM  215 

for  the  protection  of  the  poor,  who  are  more  helpless  than 
the  rich;  it  must  prohibit  anything  like  starvation  wages  and 
protracted  hours  of  labor;  it  must  insist  on  compensation 
not  merely  for  what  is  perhaps  compulsorily  and  usuriously 
agreed  to,  but  for  what  is  necessary  for  proper  support;  it 
must  compel  the  erection  and  maintenance  of  decent  habita- 
tions; it  must  guard  helpless  women  and  children  from 
labor  that  is  excessive,  or  dangerous  to  health  and  morals; 
it  must  provide  proper  rest  and  recreation  for  the  laborer; 
it  must  exact  an  equal  distribution  of  taxes  and  not  permit 
and,  above  all,  not  be  in  collusion  with  certain  individuals 
or  classes  or  combinations  to  reap  enormous  and  ever- 
growing profits  without  bearing  a  proportionate  share  in 
the  public  burdens. 

These  and  other  regulations  for  the  guidance  of  govern- 
ments are  laid  down  at  length  in  that  most  memorable  and 
valuable  document  which  the  United  States  Commissioner 
of  Statistics,  Carroll  D.  Wright,  proudly  boasts  of  carry- 
ing about  him  as  a  vade  mecum,  namely,  the  Encyclical  on 
the  Condition  of  Labor,  by  the  illustrious  Pontiff,  Leo  XIII. 
It  has  already  attracted  the  attention  of  the  entire  world. 

But  how  are  you  going  to  influence  the  great  money 
powers  which  at  the  present  time  often  control  the  machin- 
ery of  governments,  using  it  most  selfishly  and  most  cruelly 
for  their  own  advantage?  And  how  are  you  going  to  put 
a  check  on  the  angry  multitudes  who  are,  or  think  they 
are,  the  victims  of  those  powers?  There  is  only  one  influ- 
ence that  is  left,  and  that  is  religion,  which,  no  matter  how 
bad  a  man  is,  still  lingers  in  his  heart  and  exerts  its  power. 
But  what  kind  of  religion,  one  naturally  asks,  as  he  looks 
around  at  the  chaos  that  meets  his  gaze? 

The  only  opponent  of  Socialism,  according  to  the  English 
anarchist,  Hyndman,  is  the  Catholic  Church,  and  Vande- 
velde,  the  spokesman  of  Belgian  Socialism,  writes  in  the 
Independent,  February  25,  1904,  as  follows: 


2i 6  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

"  On  the  one  hand  are  all  those  who  hold  that  authority 
should  descend  from  above,  and  who  find  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  the  most  perfect  expression  of  their  ideal. 
On  the  other,  those  who  insist  that  authority  shall  come 
from  the  people,  and  who  by  the  logic  of  circumstances  can 
find  their  hopes  in  nothing  but  Social  Democracy.  One 
may  welcome  or  deplore  the  fact  of  this  coming  concentra- 
tion about  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  on  the  one  side  and 
the  Social  Democracy  on  the  other,  but  no  one  can  deny 
that  this  concentration  is  inevitable ;  and  the  future  struggle 
will  have  to  be  fought  out  between  these  two  armies.  To 
those,  therefore,  who  are  interested  in  the  social  movement 
of  Europe  we  say:  '  Observe  above  all  else,  if  you  wish  to 
consider  only  the  essential  factors,  the  political  activities  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  and  those  of  International 
Socialism.'  ' 

The  mistake  in  these  two  declarations  is  that  the  Catho- 
lic Church  is  held  to  be  an  enemy.  She  is  not.  She  will 
conquer,  but  conquer  as  a  friend.  Under  these  wild  de- 
mands she  detects  many  a  glimmer  of  truth  and  many  a 
just  cause  for  complaint,  while  she  also  sees  unfortunately 
bound  up  and  mingled  with  them  many  outrageous  and  de- 
structive errors  which  can  only  bring  disaster  on  their  ad- 
herents. 

To  eliminate  the  evil  and  secure  the  good  is  her  only 
purpose.  She  is  not  unprepared  for  the  fight;  she  expects 
it.  She  may  be  beaten  at  first,  but  she  will  ultimately 
triumph.  She  has  had  the  experience  before. 

To  the  doctrine  of  the  divinity  of  human  nature  she 
replies:  Human  nature  is  divine,  not,  however,  in  being 
part  of  the  God-head,  but  in  the  resemblance  with  God  by 
the  fulfilment  of  the  moral  law,  which  is  a  reflex  on  man's 
mind  of  the  eternal  laws  of  justice  that  are  written  in  the 
mind  of  God.  The  higher  assimilations  to  the  Divinity  by 
adoption  and  filiation  only  a  Catholic  can  understand,  but 


GENESIS    OF   SOCIALISM  217 

they  are  nobler  and  more   sublime  than   any  pantheistic 
Socialist  ever  dreamed  of. 

To  the  clamor  for  International  Brotherhood  she  makes 
answer:  "  I  alone  can  give  it  to  you.  My  very  name  Catho- 
lic implies  that,  but  it  will  be  an  Internationalism  which  will 
not  destroy  the  nations,  but  fortify  them;  not  obliterate 
patriotism,  but  make  it  more  acute  and  self-sacrificing;  not 
degrade  human  nature,  but  lift  it  up  and  glorify  it.  The 
Black  International,  as  you  call  me,  will  not  do  as  the  Red 
International,  which  typifies  and  preaches  blood  and  car- 
nage. The  Black  International  is  apparelled  indeed  in  the 
garments  of  sorrow,  but  it  is  sorrow  for  the  sins  of  man- 
kind; it  is  symbolical  of  its  own  sufferings  and  afflictions 
which  must  be  undergone,  but  through  which  alone  happi- 
ness and  peace  are  to  be  won  for  mankind." 

The  destruction  of  the  marriage  tie  she  will  never  per- 
mit. She  will  fight  for  its  indissolubility  though  the  world 
should  seem  to  go  to  pieces  about  her,  knowing  by  the 
divine  light  within  her  as  well  as  by  her  two  thousand  years 
of  worldly  trial  that  upon  the  stability  of  the  family  and 
the  dignity  of  woman  depends  the  safety  of  the  nations. 

She  will  not  countenance  your  right  of  revolution,  if  only 
for  the  reason  that  she  has  too  often  seen  that  these  popular 
upheavals  are  planned  mostly  for  the  political  ambition  of 
individuals,  and  that  the  people  are  invariably  the  sufferers. 

She  makes  light  of  the  accusation  that  she  has  been 
always  the  ally  of  kings  and  princes.  She  has  been  when 
they  reigned  with  justice;  but  most  of  her  sorrows  have 
come  to  her  for  withstanding  them  when  they  wrought 
iniquity.  She  alone  dares  to  reprove  and  threaten  and 
condemn  the  rich  and  powerful. 

She  pays  no  heed  to  the  calumny  that  she  favors  the  rich. 
Her  distinctive  trait,  as  well  as  her  glory,  is  that  she  is  the 
Church  of  the  poor.  She  has  covered  the  world  with  her 
institutions  of  benevolence,  and  she  has  never  ceased  her 


2i 8  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

care  for  the  orphan,  the  sick,  the  abandoned,  the  fallen,  the 
ignorant,  the  outcast,  and  the  criminal  wherever  they  could 
be  found,  in  the  hospitals,  in  the  orphanages,  in  the  slums, 
in  the  prisons,  and  even  on  the  scaffold,  and  her  claim  was 
never  so  much  in  evidence  as  to-day  when  the  Socialist  gov- 
ernment of  France  drives  out  from  their  country  160,000 
admittedly  blameless  men  and  women  whose  only  purpose 
in  life  was  to  devote  themselves  to  the  suffering  members  of 
humanity.  The  Church  would  have  won  too  much  esteem 
and  power  had  such  love  been  allowed  to  be  lavished  on  the 
people.  That  the  poor  were  to  suffer  in  consequence  was 
not  considered  for  an  instant.  With  her,  poverty  is  no  dis- 
grace; it  is  an  honor,  and  the  rich  and  poor  meet  on  the 
same  level  at  her  altars. 

Finally,  she  alone  is  the  apostle  of  liberty.  From  the 
time  that  St.  Paul  pleaded  for  the  fugitive  slave  she  has  been 
striking  off  the  shackles  of  the  serf,  and  she  alone  to-day 
can  save  the  workingman  from  a  worse  servitude  than  the 
one  from  which  he  is  striving  to  emancipate  himself.  She 
alone  preaches  a  true  equality  for  all  men,  and  the  humblest 
can  occupy  and  have  occupied  the  most  splendid  posts  in  her 
hierarchy.  Nor  could  it  be  otherwise,  for  she  was  estab- 
lished by  the  Son  of  God,  who  sounded  the  depths  of  human 
suffering  and  poverty,  who  was  born  in  a  stable  and  had 
not  a  grave  of  His  own  to  be  buried  in. 

On  what  lines  does  the  Church  propose  to  proceed?  On 
the  old  lines : 

1.  By  teaching,  by  inculcating,  and  almost  by  compel- 
ling, through  the  instrumentality  of  her  pulpits,  her  schools, 
and  her  confessionals,   reverence   for  God,   obedience  to 
divine  and  human  law,  and  love  for  humanity.    The  world 
around  us  is  just  now  beginning  to  understand  the  power  of 
these  three  bulwarks  against  destructive  and  revolutionary 
Socialism. 

2.  By  consecrating,  in  all  the  glow  and  ardor  of  their 


GENESIS    OF    SOCIALISM  219 

youth,  her  countless  armies  of  heroic  sons  and  daughters 
who  go  down  gladly  into  the  depths  of  human  misery,  where 
they  touch  with  their  hand  and  feel  with  their  heart  all  the 
physical  and  moral  woes  from  which  mankind  is  suffering, 
and  by  their  voluntary  poverty,  their  self-immolating  benev- 
olence, and  also  by  the  dazzling  beauty  of  their  lives  hold 
in  check  the  angry  and  rebellious  multitudes  that  are  in 
danger  of  being  led  away. 

3.  By  inspiring  Catholic  governments  to  initiate,  not 
under  pressure  but  of  their  own  volition,  economic  reforms 
which  recognize  and  forestall  the  reasonable  demands  of 
the  people,  and  to  do  so  not  for  motives  of  expediency  or 
fear  but  for  reasons  of  right  and  justice.  Such  was  the  case 
when  Europe  was  Catholic,  when  there  were  but  few  labor 
troubles,  although  the  gigantic  Workingmen's  Guilds,  better 
organized  than  are  the  Labor  Unions  of  to-day,  extended 
their  influence  everywhere  in  protecting  and  uplifting  the 
workman,  but  at  the  same  time  rendering  anarchy  impos- 
sible because  of  the  religious  idea  in  which  those  organi- 
zations were  conceived  and  by  which  they  were  strengthened 
and  perpetuated.  The  attempt  to  resuscitate  them  by  the 
present  Protestant  Emperor  of  Germany  is  a  tribute  to  the 
wisdom  of  the  past;  the  failure  to  do  so  is  an  admission  of 
the  weakness  of  the  religious  spirit  in  the  workingman  of 
to-day. 

Unfortunately  we  have  but  one  example  at  the  present 
time  of  a  government  acting  under  such  inspiration,  but  it 
is  sufficient  as  an  illustration,  namely,  Catholic  Belgium, 
whose  great  manufacturing  interests  and  condensed  popu- 
lation seemed  to  afford  a  most  promising  field  for  a  Social- 
ist propaganda,  but  in  which  Socialism  has  not  been  able  to 
secure  a  foothold  because  of  the  Christian  solicitude  of  the 
government  in  providing  for  the  needs  of  the  people  and 
in  supporting  the  undertakings  of  private  philanthropy. 
Socialism,  in  spite  of  its  gigantic  efforts,  has  found  itself 


220  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

anticipated  there,  while  the  safeguard  of  religion  among 
the  people  prevents  the  excesses  into  which  great  economic 
changes  without  such  a  restraint  inevitably  fall,  and  the 
country  has  been  for  over  twenty  years  in  the  enjoyment  of 
a  prosperity  unparalleled  in  its  history. 

A  better  example  of  this  influence  is  found  in  the  effect 
which  Catholicity  has  had,  not  merely  on  a  country  but  on 
an  entire  race.  Centuries  of  misrule  would  naturally  have 
hurled  the  entire  Irish  people  into  the  hands  of  the  Social- 
ists, but  the  Irish  reverence  for  parental,  civil,  and  ecclesi- 
astical authority,  ingrained  in  them  by  the  Catholic  training 
and  tradition  of  long  centuries,  has,  to  the  amazement  of 
the  revolutionists,  kept  them  as  a  body  solid  as  a  wall  of 
brass  on  the  side  of  order.  There  is  no  more  faithful  father 
of  a  family  and  no  more  self-sacrificing  patriot  in  his  native 
or  his  adopted  country  than  an  Irishman.  There  are  some, 
unfortunately,  on  the  wrong  side,  but  an  Irish  anarchist  or 
out-and-out  Socialist  is  a  recreant  to  his  race  and  religion. 

When  it  cannot  mould  an  entire  nation  or  race,  it  avails 
itself  of  the  popular  elements  at  its  disposal  and  fashions 
them  into  solid  and  enduring  defences  of  their  country. 
Thus,  because  and  only  because  of  this  influence,  have  we 
the  splendid  spectacle  of  the  German  Catholics  of  to-day, 
whom  Bismarck  thirty  years  ago  tried  his  best  to  extermi- 
nate, forgetting  all  that  now  and  standing  as  the  admitted 
defenders  of  that  Protestant  Empire  against  the  inroads 
of  Socialism.  Take  away  the  conservative  force  of  Cathol- 
icity from  the  body  of  the  people  at  large,  and  from  their 
representatives  in  the  Reichstag,  and  build  up  the  three 
million  Socialist  vote  by  the  other  millions  that  would  be 
added,  were  not  Catholicity  there  to  prevent  it,  and  the 
great  Empire  would  probably  totter  to  its  foundations. 
This  condition  of  things  in  a  country  where  Socialism  had 
so  much  to  hope  for  is  sufficient  to  explain  the  bitter  hatred 
entertained  for  Catholicity. 


GENESIS    OF   SOCIALISM  221 

This  bitterness  is  not  reciprocated,  though  opposition  to 
the  economic  and  religious  delusions  of  their  opponents  is 
none  the  less  profound  and  unyielding.  Catholics  have 
been  content  to  quietly  build  up  their  strength,  and  year 
after  year  for  half  a  century,  even  in  the  midst  of  galling 
persecution,  they  have  come  before  the  world  to  reiterate 
in  assemblies  ever  increasing  in  number  and  importance 
their  adherence  to  the  principles  of  right  and  justice,  until 
in  our  own  day,  under  the  walls  of  the  Cathedral  of  Co- 
logne, one  of  the  most  splendid  monuments  that  the  work- 
ingmen  of  the  world  have  ever  constructed,  the  Catholic 
Congress,  grown  now  to  12,000  delegates,  representing 
every  social  element  from  the  parliamentarian  and  the  pro- 
fessor to  the  peasant  and  the  mechanic,  some  of  whom 
voiced  the  will  of  organizations  like  the  Volksverein  of 
300,000  or  400,000  members,  came  to  report  the  vast  work 
that  had  been  accomplished  in  establishing  workingmen 
and  women's  clubs,  industrial  schools,  rural  banks,  indus- 
trial and  agricultural  federations,  courses  in  sociology  and 
political  economy,  and  countless  other  beneficent  organiza- 
tions besides. 

It  was  the  sonorous  utterance  of  an  overwhelming 
spirit  of  religion  and  patriotism  making  that  magnificent 
and  solemn  declaration  of  fealty  to  God,  religion,  and 
country,  which  gave  the  assurance,  not  only  to  the  rulers  of 
Germany  but  to  the  world  at  large,  that  where  a  people  is 
influenced  by  genuine  Christianity  the  country  is  safe  from 
the  enemies  without  and  the  still  more  dangerous  foes  who 
lurk  within.  Catholics  of  other  countries  would  do  well  to 
follow  their  example. 

On  the  same  lines  are  the  Catholics  of  France  and  Italy 
making  their  uphill  fight.  To  those  who  have  been  able 
to  study  them  closely  the  number  of  enterprises  which  they 
have  inaugurated  and  carried  to  a  successful  issue  for 
the  betterment  of  the  working  classes  is  simply  amazing, 


222  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

achieved  as  they  are  in  spite  of  governments  which  do 
everything  possible  to  thwart  these  efforts. 

What  are  we  to  do?  The  same  thing.  Socialism  with 
us  is  not  yet  a  formidable  political  power,  but  there  is  all 
the  more  reason,  before  it  becomes  an  aggressive  and  or- 
ganized force,  to  build  up  an  army  of  federated  associa- 
tions actuated  by  principles  which  are  antagonistic  to  or 
corrective  of  those  dangerous  doctrines  we  have  been  con- 
sidering; a  great  conservative  body  of  men,  who  can  always 
be  relied  on  as'  the  champions  of  law  and  order,  who,  far 
from  being  a  source  of  apprehension  for  their  fellow  coun- 
trymen will  be  recognized  as  stanch  defenders  of  justice  and 
right;  men  who  believe  in  the  rights  of  property,  the  sanc- 
tity of  marriage,  the  love  of  country,  the  right  of  liberty, 
and  the  rational  pursuit  of  happiness,  and  who  base  all 
these  claims,  not  on  convenience  or  expediency,  but  because 
the  light  of  reason  and  the  light  of  religion  reveal  them  as 
springing  from  the  eternal  laws  which  reason  and  revelation 
keep  constantly  before  our  eyes.  Men  who  are  penetrated 
with  such  principles  will  be  the  pillars  of  their  country  in 
time  of  peace  and  its  stanchest  defenders  in  time  of  war. 
The  solution  of  the  problem  rests  largely  if  not  exclusively 
with  us. 


Golden  Jubilee  of  St  John's  Church 

Bangor,  Maine,  November  5,  1906 

ON  an  occasion  like  this,  when  the  Church,  with  all 
the  solemn  and  sublime  pageantry  of  its  sacred 
ritual,  summons  the  throngs  of  its  priests  and 
prelates  and  people  to  commemorate  in  this  splendid  basilica 
another  triumph  of  the  extension  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ, 
it  is  proper  to  cast  a  glance  backward  so  as  to  better  under- 
stand the  way  in  which  this  glory  has  been  achieved. 

Unlike  to-day,  it  was  a  dream,  a  delusion,  a  myth  that 
attracted  men  here  three  or  four  hundred  years  ago.  On 
the  present  site  of  Bangor  there  was  thought  to  be  a  won- 
derfully beautiful  though  barbaric  city  called  Norumbega. 
Even  Milton  sang  of  it.  Many  a  traveller  ascended  the 
Penobscot  in  search  of  it,  and  one  enthusiastic  writer,  whose 
account  Hakluyt  published,  told  of  its  houses  of  crystal  with 
silver  colonnades,  and  its  inhabitants  all  decked  out  in  pearls 
and  gold.  It  was  sought  for  with  an  eagerness  like  that 
which  urged  Ponce  de  Leon  and  his  followers  in  their  quest 
for  the  Fountain  of  Youth,  and,  as  late  as  1583,  Sir  Hum- 
phrey Gilbert,  reading  Hakluyt's  story  and  dreaming  only 
of  loading  his  vessels  with  silver,  carried  with  him  the  poet 
Parmenius  to  sing  its  praises.  But  when  Champlain  came 
to  Bangor  and  found  only  the  squalid  wigwams  of  the  sav- 
ages, the  myth  evaporated,  though  traces  of  it  still  lingered 
for  fifty  or  sixty  years,  and  the  Dutch,  and  even  the  famous 
Captain  John  Smith,  who  came  to  Maine,  continued  to 
dream  of  Norumbega. 

There  was,  of  course,  a  real  Norumbega,  but  it  was  a  ter- 
ritory, not  a  city.  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert's  charter  de- 
scribed it  as  extending  from  the  thirtieth  to  the  sixtieth 


224  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

degree  north  latitude,  so  that  it  took  in  not  only  Massachu- 
setts, which  seems  to  pre-empt  the  title  by  its  Norumbega 
Park  in  Boston,  but  even  New  York.  Indeed,  it  included 
almost  the  whole  coast  from  Florida  to  Labrador.  But 
popular  fancy  seems  to  have  restricted  it  to  Maine  by  plac- 
ing its  chief  city  on  the  great  and  beautiful  river,  the  Penob- 
scot,  whose  name,  says  one  writer,  might  well  describe  the 
entire  State.  But  its  limitations  and  locality  do  not  concern 
us  now.  What  interests  us  is :  When  did  Christianity  come 
to  Norumbega  ? 

Apart  from  the  shadowy  traditions  that  missionaries 
from  the  Island  of  Saints  came  out  to  the  Isles  of  the  West, 
to  Hy  Brasil,  the  Wooded  Land  of  which  the  Irish  bards 
loved  to  sing,  it  is  beyond  doubt  that  Catholicity  (for  no 
other  form  of  Christianity  existed)  was  preached  in  this 
part  of  the  world,  and  perhaps  on  this  very  spot,  nearly 
one  thousand  years  ago. 

In  the  Fenway  of  Boston  stands  a  bronze  figure  of  Leif, 
the  son  of  Eric,  who  was  sent  out  here  from  Greenland  to 
found  a  Christian  colony,  though  the  authorities,  in  accept- 
ing the  statue,  protested  they  did  not  mean  to  imply  by  the 
situation  of  the  monument  that  it  was  there  he  landed. 
That  he  came  is  admitted,  but  where  he  went  or  what  he  did 
to  convert  the  natives  we  cannot  say.  The  colony  endured, 
however,  in  some  way  or  other,  and  fifty  years  after  the 
coming  of  Leif,  Bishop  John,  of  Skalholt,  in  Iceland,  who 
is  said  to  have  been  an  Irishman,  ended  his  life  here  in 
suffering  and  torture,  though  that,  like  so  many  other  things, 
is  questioned;  but  one  fact  is  beyond  doubt,  namely,  that  a 
century  later  the  Bishop  of  Gardar  in  Greenland,  "  full  of 
missionary  zeal,  accompanied  the  ships  of  his  seafaring  flock 
and  reached  the  land  known  in  the  Sagas  of  the  North  by 
the  name  of  Vinland,"  which  was  part,  at  least,  of  the  No- 
rumbega of  later  times.  Here  the  bishop  died,  but  how  far 
to  the  north  or  to  the  south  either  he  or  his  predecessor  car- 


GOLDEN  JUBILEE  OF  ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH    225 

ried  the  cross  we  are  unable  to  determine,  though  we  know 
that  the  venturesome  Norsemen  were  in  Labrador,  New- 
foundland, and  New  England,  and  perhaps  the  vestiges  of 
Catholic  symbols  found  among  the  savages  of  St.  Croix  in 
Maine  five  centuries  later  might  be  traced  to  that  source. 

But  besides  this  remote  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  Maine 
has  had  other  points  of  contact  with  Catholicity  in  more 
recent  years.  The  Cabots,  who  were  sent  out  by  the  Cath- 
olic King  of  England,  Henry  VII,  and  who  very  probably 
sailed  over  the  Gulf  of  Maine,  were  Catholics,  of  course. 

The  Catholic  Verazzano  came  here  in  1524  and  mapped 
out  the  coast;  and  in  what  is  now  New  Brunswick  in  the 
next  expedition  with  Rut,  in  1527,  a  priest  lost  his  life  among 
the  savages.  It  is  this  voyage  which  is  of  particular  im- 
portance to  us,  for  historians  tell  us  that  the  "  Mary  of  Guil- 
ford  returned  by  the  coasts  of  Newfoundland,  Cape  Breton, 
and  Norumbega,  entering  the  ports  of  those  regions,  land- 
ing and  examining  the  condition  of  the  country."  They  thus 
furnished  us  with  the  account  of  the  first  actual  landing  of 
the  white  man  in  this  part  of  the  world,  at  least  in  modern 
times;  and  what  is  of  still  more  absorbing  interest  to  us, 
told  us  that  with  them  was  a  "  canon  of  St.  Paul's  in 
London,  a  learned  man  and  a  mathematician,"  who  had 
placed  his  scientific  attainments  as  well  as  his  priestly  office 
at  the  service  of  the  expedition.  Hence  we  have  the  very 
solid  assurance  that  in  1527  a  priest  ministered  in  these 
parts,  offered  the  Holy  Sacrifice,  and  preached  the  Gospel  in 
the  English  tongue,  though  he  was  an  Italian  named  Albert 
de  Prato. 

Again,  the  Portuguese-Spaniard,  Esteban  Gomez,  was 
here  and  called  the  Penobscot  the  Rio  Grande  and  the  Rio 
Hermoso  —  the  Great  and  the  Beautiful  River  —  and  the 
land  around  it  the  land  of  Gomez.  Roberval's  daring 
sailor,  Allefonsce,  likewise  came  to  Maine,  and  the  Francis- 
can friar,  Thevet,  whom  some  writers  seek  to  discredit,  ex- 


226  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

plored  and  described  the  country,  and  told  how  the  French 
were  already  settled  there;  a  statement  which  naturally 
angers  the  partisans  of  England's  claims.  He,  too,  must 
have  preached  the  Gospel  to  his  countrymen.  Others  might 
be  cited,  but  this  is  enough  to  show  that  Catholicity  is  not  an 
alien  religion  in  Maine. 

There  were  Catholics,  of  course,  in  the  ill-fated  ships  of 
Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  which  in  1583  were  engulfed  in  the 
waves  of  the  Atlantic  off  Cape  Race;  for  it  was  a  Catholic 
expedition  for  the  colonization  of  Norumbega.  It  was 
planned  by  two  Catholic  noblemen,  Gerard  and  Peckham, 
who  proposed  to  send  out  one  thousand  Catholics  to  the 
continent  of  Europe  and  from  thence  transport  them  to 
America  to  escape  the  persecutions  then  raging  in  England. 
"  All  the  papists,"  a  spy  reported,  "  were  praying  for  its 
success."  But  Gilbert's  disaster  and  death  checked,  though 
it  did  not  completely  crush,  the  ardor  of  those  who  were 
promoting  the  enterprise.  Twenty  years  later,  the  proj- 
ect was  revived  by  Lord  Arundell  of  Wardour,  but 
failed  because  of  the  opposition  of  the  famous  Jesuit, 
Father  Parsons,  who  believed  its  purpose  impossible  of 
accomplishment. 

Of  course,  all  of  these  historical  findings  are  to  a  certain 
extent  vague  and  unsatisfactory,  but  in  the  summer  of  1612, 
over  on  the  beach  of  the  Grand  Manan,  at  what  is  now 
known  as  Whitehead  Island,  there  might  have  been  seen  a 
pale  face  in  the  garb  of  a  savage,  kneeling  at  the  feet  of  a 
priest  and  making  his  confession.  He  was  a  Frenchman 
who  had  fled  from  the  settlement  of  Acadia  and  was  living 
among  the  Indians.  The  Jesuit  missionary,  Biard,  had  gone 
in  pursuit  of  him,  and  when  the  unhappy  man  was  reconciled 
to  God,  an  altar  was  built  on  the  shore,  and,  amid  a  group 
of  bedizened  soldiers  and  painted  savages,  Mass  was 
celebrated,  at  which  the  restored  fugitive  made  his  Easter 
Communion. 


GOLDEN  JUBILEE  OF  ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH    227 

This  is  the  first  explicit  record  we  have  of  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  Divine  mysteries  on  the  borders  of  the  present 
State  of  Maine. 

A  few  days  afterward  the  same  great  missionary  stood 
at  an  altar  in  front  of  a  little  stockade  on  the  St.  John's 
River.  It  was  early  morning,  and  the  occupants  of  the  fort 
as  well  as  the  men  from  the  ship  knelt  together  on  the 
strand  to  assist  at  Holy  Mass.  In  spite  of  this  solemn  be- 
ginning the  day  almost  ended  in  Bloodshed.  From  there 
the  travellers  sailed  along  the  coast  and  entered  the  Kenne- 
bec,  where  Father  Biard  went  ashore  and  celebrated  the 
Holy  Mysteries,  but  came  near  being  murdered  at  the  altar 
by  the  Indians.  The  site  of  this  interesting  event  it  has  been 
impossible  to  determine. 

This  voyage  of  the  priest  seems  like  a  prelude  to  what 
happened  in  the  following  year,  when  Fathers  Biard,  Masse, 
and  Quentin  abandoned  the  colony  of  Acadia  and  estab- 
lished the  Mission  of  Saint  Sauveur  at  Bar  Harbor.  "  In 
that  place,"  says  the  Protestant  Bancroft,  "  the  Indians  re- 
garded Father  Biard  as  a  messenger  of  heaven.  They 
gathered  around  the  cross,  which  was  erected  in  the  centre 
of  the  village,  and  under  the  summer  sun  when  Mass  was 
offered  and  the  Office  sung,  the  Roman  religion  appropriated 
the  soil  of  Maine." 

But,  alas !  the  settlement  was  not  long-lived.  The  pirate 
Argall  of  Virginia  entered  the  harbor  with  a  man-of-war, 
laid  the  village  in  ashes,  and  carried  away  two  of  the  priests 
to  hang  them  in  Virginia.  Providence  intervened,  however, 
and  they  were  not  hanged,  but  were  driven  by  the  tempests 
across  the  wide  Atlantic,  and  after  many  sufferings  and  in- 
cidentally twice  saving  their  enemies  from  the  gallows, 
reached  their  native  land  —  one  of  them  returning,  how- 
ever, to  labor  and  to  die  in  the  wilds  of  America;  and  it  is 
worthy  of  note  that  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  near 
Quebec,  there  stands  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  Ene- 


228  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

mond  Masse,  one  of  the  priests  who  first  came  ashore  at 
Bar  Harbor  in  1613. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  disputes  about  the  limits  of 
Acadia  began.  Its  extent  was  so  vast  and  so  vague,  stretch- 
ing as  it  did  even  below  what  is  now  New  York  and  going 
west  from  Nova  Scotia  to  the  Kennebec,  that  ceaseless  wars 
ensued  between  the  claimants.  The  territory  between  the 
Penobscot  and  the  Kennebec,  especially,  became  the  dark 
and  bloody  ground  where  French  and  English  fought  for 
more  than  a  century;  the  English  winning  at  last,  when 
Wolfe  and  Montcalm  met  in  death  on  the  Plains  of  Abra- 
ham, only  to  lose  the  territory  of  Maine  twenty  years  later 
in  the  American  Revolution. 

During  the  period  which  immediately  followed  the  de- 
struction of  the  Jesuit  mission  at  Bar  Harbor,  devoted 
Capuchin  monks  exposed  their  lives  for  the  salvation  of  the 
redmen's  souls;  but  the  work  was  desultory,  hampered  by 
quarrels  among  the  French,  and  was  not  crowned  with  any 
measure  of  success  until  its  first  organizers  returned  in  1688. 

But  before  that,  in  1646,  at  the  same  time  that  Isaac 
Jogues  was  sent  by  his  superiors  to  meet  a  bloody  death 
among  the  Iroquois  of  the  Mohawk,  Gabriel  Druillettes 
came  to  the  Abenakis  in  Maine.  Not  from  the  Indians, 
however,  but  from  the  near-by  English  was  danger  to  be  ap- 
prehended. Father  Druillettes  went  down  as  a  messenger 
of  peace  to  the  Puritans  of  Massachusetts,  who  had  put  a 
price  upon  the  head  of  every  priest,  and  especially  every 
Jesuit,  who  should  enter  their  borders.  But  the  diplomatic 
character  with  which  he  was  invested  served  to  protect  him, 
while  his  eloquence,  learning,  and  virtue  quite  captivated 
those  bitter  enemies  of  the  faith.  The  principal  men  among 
them,  notably  John  Eliot,  even  manifested  an  affection  for 
him,  entertained  him  in  their  houses,  and  treated  him  with 
the  greatest  respect.  With  the  ministers  he  discussed  reli- 
gion, the  council  listened  to  his  proposals,  and,  though  his 


GOLDEN  JUBILEE  OF  ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH    229 

political  mission  failed,  he  returned  in  safety  to  his  Indians, 
and  we  hear  of  him  later,  far  out  on  the  Great  Lakes,  where, 
a  thousand  and  more  miles  away,  he  spent  his  last  days  in 
leading  those  savage  tribes  in  the  ways  of  salvation,  thus 
giving  to  Maine  another  link  with  the  Catholicity  of  the 
country  at  large.  He  was  an  apostle  from  the  East  preach- 
ing the  Gospel  in  the  then  farthest  West. 

But  the  most  impressive  and  the  most  majestic  figure 
that  appears  in  those  days  is  that  of  the  hero  who  may  be 
one  day  the  patron  saint  of  Maine,  Father  Sebastian  Rasle, 
for  he,  by  his  thirty-five  years  of  apostolate  among  the  In- 
dians, ending  by  a  bloody  death  at  the  foot  of  his  mission 
cross,  did  more  than  anyone  else  to  sow  the  seeds  of  faith 
in  this  most  northern  State  of  the  Union. 

In  spite  of  himself  and  merely  because  he  was  a  priest  he 
was  the  storm  centre  of  the  struggle  between  the  French 
and  the  English.  He  was  calumniated  and  maligned, 
tracked  like  a  wild  beast,  a  price  was  put  upon  his  head,  and 
he  was  finally  slain  for  no  other  reason  than  that  he  kept  his 
Indians  in  that  faith  which  was  dearer  to  him  and  to  them 
than  life,  and  which  they,  true  to  his  memory,  in  spite  of 
persecutions  and  poverty,  have  never  relinquished. 

A  distinguished  professor  in  his  own  land,  where  honor 
awaited  him  in  the  domain  of  letters,  he  came  as  a  mission- 
ary to  this  country  in  1689.  The  day  of  his  arrival  was 
October  13,  almost  coinciding  with  what  was  intended  to  be 
the  date  of  this  celebration.  Eager  to  learn  their  language 
as  rapidly  as  possible  and  at  any  cost,  he  buried  himself  in 
the  squalid  wigwams  of  the  Canadian  Indians,  and  the  next 
year  found  him  out  where  Druillettes  had  been  before  him, 
in  the  wilds  of  Illinois,  and  after  four  years  of  toil  and 
sacrifice  and  danger  coming  back  to  complete  his  immola- 
tion of  twenty-seven  years  of  heroic  labor  in  Maine  by  a 
martyr's  death. 

Two  thousand   miles   of  wilderness,   where   every  step 


230  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

meant  the  peril  of  death  by  starvation,  exposure  to  wild 
beasts  and  wilder  men,  seemed  the  merest  trifles  for  those 
men  of  gigantic  spiritual  stature  who  were  our  first 
apostles.  Equal  to  it,  perhaps,  in  another  way  in  its  apos- 
tolic self-sacrifice  was  the  task  which  he  assumed  of  remain- 
ing a  lifetime  hidden  away  in  the  repulsiveness  and  degra- 
dation of  Indian  encampments,  where  for  a  man  of  his 
sensitive  nature  every  instant  brought  its  loathsome  and 
disgusting  trial. 

Norridgewalk,  or  Norridgewok,  was  his  settlement.  It 
was  the  cradle  of  Maine's  Catholicity.  Around  him  he 
gathered  a  Christian  people,  and,  aided  by  his  friends  in  dis- 
tant France,  and  by  his  own  exceptional  skill  at  all  kinds  of 
handicraft,  he  adorned  his  little  chapel,  which  he  used  to 
boast  was  as  beautiful  as  any  church  in  the  Old  World,  with 
its  rich  vestments,  his  throng  of  Indian  altar  boys  in  the 
sanctuary  in  cassock  and  surplice,  his  congregation  chanting 
the  Mass  and  flocking  to  the  church  every  day  in  the  week  at 
the  sound  of  the  bell  that  swung  in  his  rustic  tower.  There, 
on  the  roads  that  led  from  the  village  were  chapels  to  Our 
Lady  and  the  Archangel  St.  Michael,  where  the  Indian 
braves  knelt  to  pray  when  they  went  out  to  war  or  to  hunt. 
He  had  made  his  people  devout  and  practical  Catholics. 
Whittier  describes  the  place  in  Mog  Megone  as  follows : 

"  On  the  brow  of  a  hill  which  slopes  to  meet 
The  flowing  river,  and  bathe  its  feet, 
'Mid  the  bare-washed  and  drooping  grass 
And  the  creeping  vine  as  the  waters  pass — 
A  rude,  unshapely  chapel  stands, 
Built  in  that  wild  by  unskilful  hands; 
Yet  the  traveller  knows  it  is  a  place  of  prayer, 
For  the  holy  sign  of  the  cross  is  there; 
And  should  he  chance  at  that  place  to  be, 
Of  a  Sabbath  morn,  or  some  hallowed  day, 
When  prayers  are  made  and  masses  said, 
Some  for  the  living  and  some  for  the  dead, 
Well  might  that  traveller  start  to  see 
The  tall,  dark  forms  that  take  their  way 
From  the  birch  canoe  on  the  river-shore 
And  the  forest  path  to  the  chapel  door, 


GOLDEN  JUBILEE  OF  ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH    231 

And  marvel  to  mark  the  naked  knees 

And  the  dusky  foreheads  bending  there; 

And  stretching  his  long,  thin  arms  over  these 

In  blessing  and  in  prayer, 

Like  a  shrouded  spectre,  pale  and  tall, 

In  his  coarse  white  vesture  —  Father  Rasle." 

The  picture  is  incorrect  to  some  extent,  but  it  illustrates 
how  the  great  missionary  has  left  his  impress  on  the  litera- 
ture of  New  England. 

He  restrained  his  Indians  from  war  and  instructed  them 
in  all  the  arts  of  peace,  taught  them  to  build  their  houses 
and  to  cultivate  their  fields,  and  made  not  a  few  of  the  chil- 
dren familiar  with  the  rudiments  of  learning.  So  thor- 
oughly did  he  imbue  them  with  love  of  their  faith  that 
through  all  the  years  of  persecution,  and  in  spite  of  many 
worldly  inducements  to  apostatize,  these  wonderful  Indians 
remained,  with  few  exceptions,  unalterably  attached  to  their 
religion.  It  was  here  that  in  the  moments  he  could  snatch 
from  the  incessant  labors  of  his  mission  he  composed  the 
great  Abenaki  dictionary,  which  is  one  of  the  precious  liter- 
ary treasures  of  Harvard  University  to-day. 

Naturally  and  necessarily  his  desire  to  preserve  the  faith 
of  his  neophytes  prompted  him  to  keep  them  away  from  the 
Protestant  English  and  attached  to  the  Catholic  French. 
As  he  himself  was  French,  any  other  course  would  have 
been  treachery  to  his  fellow  countrymen.  But  race  feeling 
was  only  secondary,  and  he  could  have  eliminated  it  if  the 
faith  of  those  confided  to  him  were  secured.  But  deeper 
than  their  hatred  of  the  French  was  the  loathing  of  those 
early  English  colonists  for  Catholicity  and  Catholic  priests. 
It  was  sufficient  for  a  priest,  and  especially  a  Jesuit,  to  be 
on  their  territory  to  be  doomed  to  death.  They  made  no 
secret  of  it.  He  must  be  removed  at  any  cost,  and  they 
effected  their  purpose  in  a  way  that  unhappily  stamped  them 
with  everlasting  infamy. 

Expedition  after  expedition  was  sent  out  to  capture  him, 
and  finally,  in  1724,  two  hundred  men  moved  against 


232  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

Norridgewok.  To  bar  the  way  against  the  invaders  and 
protect  his  helpless  people,  for  the  warriors  were  away,  the 
aged  priest  advanced  toward  the  enemy  and,  as  he  stood 
beneath  the  village  cross,  was  riddled  with  bullets,  his  body 
frightfully  mangled  and  outraged,  his  skull  crushed,  and  his 
white  scalp  torn  from  his  head  was  carried  in  triumph  to 
Boston. 

That  hideous  trophy  of  the  reeking  scalp  of  a  vener- 
able priest  nearly  seventy  years  of  age  must  surely  have 
caused  a  shudder  when  it  was  exhibited  as  a  proof  that 
Father  Rasle  was  dead  and  no  longer  to  be  feared.  The 
Sacred  Host  was  desecrated,  the  holy  vessels  defiled,  the 
altar  and  chapel  reduced  to  ashes,  and  the  whole  village  left 
a  heap  of  ruins.  The  precious  manuscript  which  had  cost 
so  many  years  of  labor  and  all  his  writings  had  already 
been  stolen. 

With  a  sad  heart  the  Indians,  after  the  departure  of  the 
English,  buried  the  mangled  body  of  the  priest  beneath  the 
spot  where  he  used  to  stand  at  the  altar. 

From  that  out  the  Catholicity  of  Maine  depended  upon 
the  poor  hunted  Abenakis,  and  we  should  recall  to  their 
eternal  honor  that,  although  English  trading  houses  now 
supplanted  the  French  missions,  yet  more  than  fifty  years 
after  the  murder  of  Father  Rasle,  when  Washington  sent 
an  envoy  to  the  tribe  to  induce  them  to  fight  against  their 
former  English  foes,  they  consented  under  one  condition, 
namely,  that  a  Catholic  priest  should  be  sent  to  them  to 
enable  them  to  practise  their  religion. 

It  is  equally  gratifying  to  be  able  to  record  that  the 
request  was  complied  with,  and,  what  is  most  amazing,  the 
Court  of  Massachusetts  declared  its  satisfaction  with  the 
religious  instincts  of  the  Indians  and  promised  to  provide 
a  priest.  What  a  change  from  the  persecution  of  a  few 
years  before !  French  chaplains  from  the  fleet  of  Rocham- 
beau  put  themselves  immediately  in  communication  with 


GOLDEN  JUBILEE  OF  ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH    233 

these  abandoned  but  faithful  Indians,  but  unhappily  could 
not  remain  permanently  among  them. 

Another  fifty  years  rolled  by,  during  which  Bishop  Car- 
roll and  his  successors  did  what  they  could  for  these  wan- 
dering children  of  the  forests,  but  many  lapsed  into  their 
original  savagery  for  want  of  priests,  and  some  even  of 
Father  Rasle's  Norridgewoks  yielded  to  the  ministers  who 
were  sent  among  them,  while  the  faith  was  making  only  a 
fitful  progress  among  the  white  population.  Slowly,  very 
slowly,  the  decay  continued,  and  at  the  end  of  those  fifty 
years  Catholicity  in  Maine  was  helpless,  suspected,  and  de- 
spised. Nevertheless,  even  then  a  bishop  was  sent  to  com- 
plete the  work  begun  so  long  before;  but  that  evoked  an- 
other storm.  For  coincidently  with  this  nomination  of  a 
bishop  in  Maine  and  of  others  elsewhere,  the  long  pent  up 
bigotry  of  Know-Nothingism  leaped  into  a  conflagration 
over  a  large  part  of  the  country.  In  Maine  children  were 
driven  from  the  schools  and  threatened  with  imprisonment 
for  not  equivalently  denying  their  faith.  The  squalid  little 
chapels,  erected  at  the  cost  of  untold  sacrifices,  were  plun- 
dered or  blown  up  or  burned.  Dastardly  acts,  which  in 
our  days  would  be  inconceivable,  were  perpetrated,  but 
humanity  forgot  itself  in  the  outrage  committed  against  a 
man  whose  name  is  everywhere  held  in  benediction,  the 
saintly,  the  beloved  Father  Bapst. 

I  knew  him  well,  both  in  the  full  vigor  of  his  beautiful 
manhood  and  afterward,  when  age  and  suffering  and  pos- 
sibly the  consequences  of  the  barbarous  treatment  of  which 
he  had  been  the  victim  in  his  early  days  had  shaken  the 
faculties  of  his  mind,  without,  however,  weakening  in  the 
least  the  affection  of  his  tender  and  loving  heart;  and  I  have 
never  known  anyone  better  fitted  to  win  souls  to  God  than 
that  singularly  handsome,  attractive,  and  holy  man,  whose 
countenance,  lighted  up  with  its  perpetual  sunshine,  beamed 
a  welcome  on  all  who  approached  him.  The  wonder  of  it 


234  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

is  why,  if  hatred  of  his  sacred  character  inflamed  the  fury  of 
his  barbarous  persecutors  to  frenzy,  admiration  for  his  win- 
ning and  charming  personality  did  not  restrain  their  fury. 

The  night  of  October  14,  1854,  is  a  dark  one  in  the  annals 
of  Maine,  when  a  mad  but  legalized  mob  of  miscreants  in  a 
town  we  shall  not  name,  for  it  has  long  since  atoned  for  the 
deed  by  years  of  shame  and  reproach  —  Bangor  particu- 
larly condemning  it  —  dragged  the  man  of  God  from  his 
concealment,  and,  amid  howls  of  execration,  coupled  with 
indecencies  of  word  and  deed,  stripped  him  naked,  drenched 
him  with  tar  from  head  to  foot,  carried  him  on  a  rail  to  the 
woods  outside  the  town,  and  it  is  even  said  bound  him  to 
a  tree,  and,  heaping  brushwood  around  him,  prepared  to 
burn  him  alive,  or,  as  others  say,  to  hang  him  —  a  crime 
which  was  mercifully  averted,  and,  we  trust,  never  intended 
—  and  then  making  him  run  the  gantlet  just  as  the  savages 
did  with  their  victims,  and  leaving  him  crippled  and  mangled 
and  almost  dead,  bade  him  depart  or  lose  his  life  as  a 
penalty  of  refusal. 

On  that  night  of  horror,  however,  dawned  a  glorious 
morning,  when,  to  the  amazement  of  friend  and  foe,  Father 
Bapst,  vested  in  his  priestly  robes,  but  with  the  marks  of 
the  outrage  still  visible  upon  him,  was  seen  at  the  altar  of 
his  humble  church,  dragging  himself  in  agony  through  the 
rites  of  the  Holy  Sacrifice,  not  to  defy  his  enemies,  but  to 
let  his  flock  fulfil  their  obligation  of  public  worship  and  to 
restrain  them  from  any  untoward  act  of  vengeance.  He 
succeeded,  though  the  little  sanctuary  where  he  stood  that 
Sunday  morning  was  soon  after  a  heap  of  ashes. 

It  is  this  man  who  particularly  belongs  to  you;  a  hero 
whose  spirit  was  the  same  as  that  which  throbbed  in  the 
heart  of  his  martyred  brother  in  religion,  Father  Sebastian 
Rasle,  who,  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  before,  fell  at  the 
foot  of  his  mission  cross.  Well  may  you  rejoice  in  your  as- 
sociation with  him ;  and  fittingly  the  shreds  of  the  garments 


GOLDEN  JUBILEE  OF  ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH    235 

that  were  torn  from  his  body  on  that  wild  night  of  October, 
fifty-two  years  ago,  when  he  faced  unflinchingly  a  horrible 
death  by  fire,  were  placed,  still  smeared  with  tar,  in  the 
cornerstone  of  this  sacred  edifice,  which  is  his  monument 
and  his  glory. 

Since  then  the  Church  has  prospered.  Ten  years  after- 
ward, in  spite  of  the  conflagration  that  swept  over  the  city 
of  Portland,  Maine  could  count  its  twenty-nine  priests,  its 
forty-five  churches,  and  its  four  Indian  missions ;  and  to-day, 
irrespective  of  the  extensive  territory  of  New  Hampshire, 
which  ecclesiastically  once  belonged  to  it,  and  where  Cath- 
olicity is  energetic  and  progressive,  there  are  one  hundred 
and  twenty  priests,  more  than  that  number  of  churches,  and 
a  growing  Catholic  population  already  over  one  hundred 
thousand. 

Such  is  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Maine,  laid  down 
in  the  blood  of  martyrs  and  destined,  if  it  be  true  to  its 
traditions,  to  do  great  things  for  humanity  and  God. 

That  this  destiny  is  being  accomplished  we  have  only  to 
lift  our  eyes  to  see.  The  land  is  covered  with  multiplied 
and  splendid  assurances  of  the  growth  of  Catholicity,  and 
conspicuous  among  them  is  the  magnificent  temple  which  is 
erected  on  the  very  spot  where  once  the  mythical  city  daz- 
zled the  imagination  of  the  world  with  the  riches  it  was 
supposed  to  contain;  or,  better  still,  it  is  in  the  spiritual 
centre  of  the  land  whence  for  many  years  there  poured  out 
upon  the  wandering  tribes  greater  riches  than  the  fabulous 
Norumbega  could  ever  afford.  It  towers  above  the  world 
to-day,  the  first  object  to  meet  the  eye  of  the  traveller  who 
ascends  the  beautiful  river,  a  monument  to  the  heroism  of 
those  who  planted  the  faith  in  Maine,  a  tribute  to  the  pres- 
ent generation's  love  of  God  and  truth,  and  a  command  to 
those  who  come  after  to  make  the  future  worthy  of  the 
present  and  past. 

Well  may  you  rejoice  in  what  you  have  accomplished. 


236  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

To  have  contributed  ever  so  little  to  such  a  work  is  a  reason 
for  congratulation,  but  to  have  set  yourselves  deliberately  to 
a  task  which  implied  so  many  years  of  privation  and  suffer- 
ing and  sacrifice,  to  have  continued  undaunted  when  financial 
ruin  strewed  the  ground  with  wrecks,  and  not  to  have  been 
unduly  elated  when  prosperity  teemed  with  its  abundance, 
to  have  persevered  in  your  labors  out  of  love  for  God  and 
your  religion  until  you  saw  it  in  all  its  complete  and  perfect 
beauty,  entitles  you  to  all  the  joy  that  your  hearts  can  feel, 
but  whose  fulness  you  will  not  adequately  attain  until  you 
stand  in  that  other  temple  of  which  this  is  but  the  portal. 

There  is,  of  course,  one  above  all  others  who  deserves 
the  happiness  which  to-day  bestows  — >  the  one  who  for  two 
and  thirty  years  has  been  the  soul  of  your  work;  who  has 
borne  most  of  its  burden;  who  had  to  face  every  difficulty, 
avoid  every  disaster,  and  prevent  every  defeat;  who  every 
moment  of  the  night  and  day  during  all  these  years  felt  the 
crushing  weight  of  financial  worries,  while  at  the  same  time 
meeting  the  awful  spiritual  responsibilities  of  his  office  in 
guarding  the  flock  which  the  Divine  Shepherd  had  intrusted 
to  his  care,  and  for  whose  salvation  he  has  to  answer.  How 
well  he  has  done  that  none  know  better  than  you.  That 
you  should  be  better  and  happier  is  what  he  sought,  and, 
besides  the  glory  given  to  the  Almighty  God,  that  is  the 
chief  factor  in  his  joy  to-day.  He  rejoices  because  he  has 
continued  the  work  of  his  glorious  predecessors. 

For  throughout  those  thirty-two  years  as  well  as  through 
these  three  centuries  of  heroic  endeavor  runs  one  purpose. 
Enunciated  when  the  first  settlers  called  their  colony  at  Bar 
Harbor  Saint  Sauveur,  it  penetrated  the  forests;  it  was  re- 
echoed in  the  mountains  and  valleys  and  along  the  mighty 
rivers  and  lakes;  it  was  repeated  in  the  squalid  wigwams 
and  at  the  council  fires;  it  was  uttered  when  Father  Rasle 
fell  in  his  blood  at  the  foot  of  the  Saviour's  cross ;  it  was  the 
message  of  Father  Bapst  when  he  awaited  death,  bound  to 


GOLDEN  JUBILEE  OF  ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH    237 

the  trees  in  the  forest;  it  was  reiterated  in  every  act  and 
utterance  of  every  missionary  who  appealed  either  to  sav- 
agery or  civilization  during  all  that  period  of  distress  and 
trial;  and  its  replication  is  heard  from  every  stone  of  this 
sacred  edifice  which  we  are  consecrating  to-day.  Here  it 
culminates,  and  from  the  cross  that  glitters  on  its  summit 
to  the  lamp  that  glimmers  before  its  altar,  from  the  holy 
images  and  emblems  on  its  walls  and  windows  to  the  tri- 
bunals where  the  penitent  kneels  for  pardon,  and  the  altar 
rail  where  divine  life  is  imparted,  one  fact  is  ever  before  us 

—  that  it  is  Jesus  Christ  who  alone  is  the  Saviour,  for  He 
alone  is  the  Light,  the  Way,  and  the  Life.     He  alone  can 
teach  us  who  we  are;  He  alone  can  reveal  to  us  our  glorious 
destiny;  He  alone  can  flash  upon  our  souls  splendid  and  in- 
spiring visions  of  the  land  beyond;  He  alone  can  trace  the 
law  for  us  to  follow  and  exact  its  fulfilment;  He  alone  can 
give  us  the  sacramental  grace  that  is  needed  to  achieve  the 
victory  against  the  foes  who  assail  us;  He  alone  can  save 
the  individual,  the  family,  and  the  State, "for  He  alone  has 
made  them. 

This  teaching  of  Christ  is  especially  needed  here.    Dlrigo 

—  I  direct,  I  guide  —  is  the  motto  of  Maine.     It  is  the 
expression  of  an  ideal  that  is  noble  and  inspiring,  but  at 
the  same  time  almost  proud  and  presumptuous  in  its  intent, 
for  it  implies  an  absolute  knowledge  of  what  is  right  and  a 
fearless  determination  to  defend  it.     Upon  Maine,  there- 
fore, it  is  especially  incumbent  to  make  the  true  and  genuine 
principles  of  Christianity  penetrate  the  lives  of  its  people, 
sanctify  its  households,  and  inspire  the  framing  and  enforce- 
ment of  its  laws. 

This  is  especially  necessary  in  these  days  when  once  fer- 
vent Christian  churches  are  being  disrupted,  when  churches 
are  empty,  when  the  Holy  Book  is  reviled  or  tossed  aside, 
even  by  those  who  profess  to  be  ministers  of  the  Gospel, 
when  Christian  morality  is  not  only  trampled  upon  but 


238  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

almost  unknown,  and  when  mighty  armies  have  to  be  em- 
ployed to  keep  even  the  semblance  of  peace. 

To  help  to  achieve  that  end  is  the  work  especially  of 
Catholics,  not  merely  in  building  edifices,  whether  magnifi- 
cent like  this  one  or  humble  like  so  many  others,  wherein 
God  is  worshipped  and  divine  truth  taught,  but  above  all 
by  the  spiritual  upbuilding  of  upright  and  holy  lives,  which 
will  be  more  beautiful  even  than  this  glorious  temple;  for  it, 
after  all,  is  only  an  instrument  to  that  end.  This  will  make 
you  true  and  ardent  co-operators  with  Christ  in  establishing 
and  increasing  the  peace  and  happiness  and  greatness  of 
your  country,  while  accomplishing  at  the  same  time  your 
own  salvation.  You  will  thus  create  on  the  banks  of  the 
Penobscot  a  spiritual  city,  which  will  make  the  gold  and 
silver  of  the  ancient  myth  seem  only  faint  symbols  of  the 
spiritual  riches  which  many  a  traveller  will  come  from  afar 
to  seek,  and  from  which  he  will  not  turn  away  in  disappoint- 
ment, but  will  find  in  abundance  beyond  even  his  heart's 
desire  all  that  the  practice  of  true  Catholic  Christianity  is 
expected  to  produce. 


Dedication  of  St  Mary's  Church 

Ansonia,  Connecticut,  June  24,  1907 

IN  almost  every  quarter  of  the  globe  at  the  present  day 
one  is  startled  to  find  a  large  and  constantly  increasing 
number  of  conspicuous  men  who  are  reputed  to  be 
profound  philosophers,  who  are  admired  as  brilliant  lumi- 
naries of  science,  and  accepted  as  leaders  in  literature,  who 
even  occupy  prominent  positions  in  the  larger  politics  of 
the  world,  and  stranger  still  who  are  popular  in  what  are 
still  called  Christian  pulpits,  yet  who  have  flung  to  the 
winds  not  only  everything  supernatural  but  everything  spir- 
itual, and  whose  exclusive  purpose  seems  to  be  to  destroy 
Christianity.  In  fact,  they  consider  it  as  already  dead  and 
are  celebrating  its  obsequies. 

They  are  regarded  as  the  prophets  of  modern  times, 
their  sayings  and  doings  are  chronicled  in  the  press  and 
clamored  for  in  books  and  magazines,  and  their  assaults 
on  the  ancient  creed  are  hailed  as  the  indisputable  conclu- 
sions of  sincere  and  fearless  thinkers,  who  have  discovered 
that  "  the  old  faiths  and  forms  of  religion  are  worn  thread- 
bare," and  that  a  new  era  has  been  inaugurated.  The  wor- 
ship of  God  gives  way  to  the  worship  of  the  material  uni- 
verse and  humanity. 

To  make  matters  worse,  another  set  of  men  equally  prom- 
inent in  their  various  spheres  of  public  and  intellectual  life, 
who  at  first  resented  and  condemned  these  teachings  and 
devoted  themselves  with  amazing  energy  and  zeal,  by 
means  of  societies  of  psychical  research  and  the  like,  to 
discover  something  spiritual  in  what  in  their  peculiar  phrase- 
ology they  described  as  the  subliminal  world,  have  turned 
out  to  be  as  grossly  material  in  their  conceptions  as  those 


240  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

they  attempted  to  refute.  They  both  really  mean  the  same 
thing  and  together  constitute  a  formidable  body  to  be 
counted  with. 

Such  is  the  situation  to-day.  It  is  a  battle  in  which  the 
Church  is  engaged  no  longer  as  hitherto  with  the  doctrines 
of  the  different  sects  which  have  separated  from  her,  but 
with  the  destructive  and  degrading  affirmations  of  material- 
ism which  insist  that  there  is  nothing  in  this  world  except 
what  affects  our  bodily  senses;  that  we  are  absolutely  and 
thoroughly  of  earth  and  of  nothing  else. 

Were  I  therefore  to  ask  any  one  of  these  dogmatists 
what  their  views  might  be  about  existence,  the  nature,  and 
the  powers  of  the  human  soul,  they  would  probably  smile 
at  my  simplicity  and  hasten  to  tell  me  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  a  soul. 

They  would  condescendingly  assure  me  that  what  I  fancy 
to  be  such  is  only  a  part  of  the  mechanism  of  my  body,  one 
of  its  energies  or  powers,  and  that  both  together  are  a  part 
of  the  great  cosmic  or  world  machine  that  was  set  in  motion 
unnumbered  ages  ago.  That  machine,  they  will  insist, 
though  of  course  they  can  know  nothing  about  it,  will  con- 
tinue working  out  its  perfection  for  unnumbered  ages  to 
come,  ending  no  one  knows  when  or  how.  I  being  a  part 
of  it  will  share  its  fate. 

If  I  object  that  I  cannot  be  a  machine  because  I  think, 
I  reason,  I  reflect,  I  meditate,  I  conclude,  which  a  machine 
can  never  do,  I  shall  be  told  that  all  that  is  merely  the  result 
of  outside  impressions,  over  which  I  have  no  control.  I 
am  like  the  wax  cylinder  of  a  phonograph  that  receives  and 
records  and  repeats  its  impressions;  the  process  in  man 
being  merely  more  delicate  and  complex  because  of  his 
higher  grade  in  the  scale  of  the  visible  world. 

But  if  I  am  a  machine,  I  have  no  freedom  to  act.  None 
whatever,  is  the  answer;  you  merely  follow  the  general  im- 
pulse given  at  the  beginning  when  the  great  universe  began. 


DEDICATION  OF  ST.  MARY'S  CHURCH     241 

But  there  is  really  no  such  thing  as  freedom  of  will,  though 
the  expression  may  still  remain. 

Where,  then,  is  the  moral  law?  There  is  none.  Mod- 
ern thought  has  done  away  with  the  sanctions  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

Why,  then,  do  you  punish  crime  ?  There  is  no  such  thing 
as  crime  in  the  old  sense.  It  is  a  disease  that  should  be 
treated  like  any  other  physical  ailment.  If  those  affected 
by  it  are  segregated  or  destroyed,  it  is  only  for  reasons  of 
utility  and  for  the  general  good;  as  we  would  stamp  out  a 
pestilence  or  extinguish  a  fire. 

Then  there  is  no  such  thing  as  immortality?  None 
whatever.  The  human  machine  grinds  itself  out,  serves  its 
purpose,  is  thrown  away  to  make  place  for  something  else, 
in  the  great  universe  which  also  wears  itself  out  and  dis- 
appears in  the  abyss. 

There  is  consequently  no  heaven,  no  hell?  They  are 
only  delusions,  good  enough  when  the  world  was  young. 
No  serious  man  considers  them  now.  ; 

Then  there  is  no  God?  The  universe  is  God,  and  we 
are  parts  or  fragments  of  it.  The  former  conception  of 
the  divinity  has  been  dismissed  as  absurd. 

Such  are  the  doctrines  which  are  not  only  disseminated 
but  gloried  in  as  a  new  evangel  at  the  present  time;  not 
only  discussed  in  books  and  periodicals,  but  repeated  by 
the  press  and  handed  down  to  the  churchless  millions  of 
our  country  who  have  long  since  flung  away  the  Bible  and 
who  welcome  with  enthusiasm  any  authorization  for  letting 
loose  their  unbridled  passions.  Man  only  a  machine,  with- 
out a  soul,  without  a  mind,  without  a  law,  without  freedom 
to  avoid  evil  or  do  good,  but  impelled  by  forces  outside  of 
himself  over  which  he  has  no  control,  with  no  real  appre- 
ciation of  what  is  honest  or  criminal,  with  the  assurance 
that  there  is  no  essential  difference  between  the  stainless 
virgin  and  the  degraded  strumpet,  neither  of  whom  could 


242  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

help  being  such,  is  a  condition  of  intellectual  and  moral 
anarchy  worse  than  that  believed  in  by  the  leader  of  a  mob 
or  the  thrower  of  a  bomb.  It  is  such  teachings  that  are  re- 
sponsible for  the  trouble  everywhere  disturbing  the  social 
order,  and  you  need  no  other  explanation  of  why  churches 
are  empty,  why  crimes  of  every  description  stalk  shamelessly 
through  the  country,  why  millions  of  our  households  are 
disrupted  by  divorce,  why  our  country  is  making  the  most 
hideous  record  for  homicide  of  any  in  the  world,  why  cor- 
ruption reeks  in  business  and  in  politics,  why  wholesale  and 
public  violations  of  the  law  are  committed  which  make  us 
seem  as  if  we  were  going  back  to  barbarism.  How  could 
it  be  otherwise?  Doctrines  like  that,  indorsed  and  propa- 
gated and  preached  by  such  imposing  men,  almost  with  the 
zeal  of  apostles,  are  like  dynamite  under  a  house.  They 
must  work  out  their  consequences,  and  disrupt,  demolish  and 
destroy,  not  only  what  man  holds  to  be  most  sacred,  but 
everything  decent,  honorable,  upright,  reasonable,  and 
sane. 

Against  such  immoral  pronouncements  this  church  is  a 
protest;  a  constant,  persistent,  and  indignant  condemnation. 
It  declares  man's  soul  is  not  a  clod,  not  a  scrap  of  earth, 
not  a  chemical  action,  not  a  physical  energy,  not  a  machine 
or  the  part  of  one,  nor  anything  else  material  and  gross; 
but  a  spiritual  being  substantially  united  with  the  body, 
using  it  and  its  organs  indeed  as  its  instruments  in  the  pres- 
ent order  of  things,  but  in  other  conditions  capable  of  ex- 
isting alone  and  doing  without  them.  It  confers  a  dignity 
on  the  body  which  unbelievers  themselves  unconsciously 
recognize  by  the  care  and  solicitude  they  expend  upon  the 
material  frame;  and  which  the  angels  will  exult  in  calling 
from  the  dust  of  the  grave  to  share  with  the  soul  in  the 
glory  and  life  of  the  resurrection. 

From  the  soul  comes  the  life  which  pulses  in  the  blood, 
quivers  in  the  nerves,  and  imparts  to  the  remotest  cells  of 


DEDICATION  OF  ST.  MARY'S  CHURCH     243 

our  bodily  organization  an  activity  which  astounds  the  in- 
vestigator, and  defies  the  scalpel  or  the  microscope  to  dis- 
cover its  source.  It  causes  the  eye  to  exult  in  the  contem- 
plation of  beauty,  the  ear  to  grow  rapturous  with  the 
charms  of  music,  the  touch  to  find  pleasure  with  what  is 
soothing  or  soft  and  to  shrink  from  what  is  painful  and 
hard;  in  a  word,  it  guides  all  the  senses  to  their  appointed 
end  and  prompts  them  to  avoid  what  conflicts  with  the  pur- 
pose for  which  they  were  made.  Rising  higher  than  the 
material  universe,  it  thinks,  it  considers,  it  reflects,  it  medi- 
tates. It  glows  in  the  counsels  of  wisdom,  flashes  in  the 
intuitions  of  genius,  and  penetrating  beneath  the  surface 
of  things  discerns  their  essence,  detects  the  laws  which  gov- 
ern them,  and  discovers  their  origin  and  end.  It  inspires 
the  conceptions  of  the  poet,  opens  wide  the  boundless  vistas 
which  philosophy  contemplates,  and  unfolds  the  human  and 
divine  for  the  legislator  and  the  statesman  to  guide  the 
course  of  the  nations.  It  prays  and  adores;  it  rises  into 
the  presence  of  the  Creator  and  bows  down  before  Him 
with  admiration,  gratitude,  and  love.  On  it,  in  letters  of 
light,  is  inscribed  the  moral  law  reflected  from  the  mind  of 
God.  Endowed  with  freedom,  it  turns  from  what  is  evil 
and  embraces  with  enthusiasm  what  is  good.  Immortal, 
it  looks  forward  with  confidence  to  a  life  which  will  never 
end.  More  than  this,  under  a  peculiar  action  of  God  it  is 
elevated  beyond  its  natural  powers  by  the  light  and  strength 
that  He  out  of  His  love  endows  it  with,  and  it  contemplates 
truths  and  achieves  victories  which  unaided  it  could  never 
conceive  or  attempt.  It  rejoices  in  the  honor  of  the  sonship 
of  God,  and  exults  in  the  assurance  of  a  heavenly  kingdom 
which  after  the  battle  of  life  it  succeeds  in  attaining. 

Such  is  the  Catholic  teaching  about  the  human  soul. 
Would  you  understand  better  its  beauty?  Study  it  where 
it  has  been  actualized  and  realized  in  those  who  have  ex- 
erted the  powers  which  God  has  given  them  and  have  won 


244  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

the  victory  which  he  has  made  them  capable  of  achieving. 
Contemplate  it  in  the  ever-varying  splendor  of  the  count- 
less multitudes  of  saintly  men  and  women  whom  the  Church 
has  produced  under  every  human  condition  and  in  every  age 
of  the  world.  Lift  your  eyes  to  the  white-robed  armies  of 
virgins  who  follow  the  Lamb;  to  the  martyrs  with  their 
palms,  the  Apostles,  the  confessors,  the  prophets  in  the 
bewildering  splendors  of  their  various  hierarchies.  Above 
all,  consider  it  in  her  who  is  the  Queen  of  saints  and  angels, 
the  glorious  one  whom  this  church  has  taken  as  its  patron, 
the  great  Mother  of  Christ,  whose  beauty  and  splendor 
of  soul  were  elaborated  from  Nazareth  to  Calvary,  from 
the  crib  to  the  cross,  and  whom  the  Church  proclaims  to 
have  been  borne  from  the  tomb  to  her  throne  in  heaven 
where  the  stars  are  her  diadem  and  the  moon  is  beneath 
her  feet.  There  is  a  human  soul.  Or  go  higher  still  and 
kneel  down  and  adore  it  in  the  Person  of  Jesus  Christ, 
whose  human  soul  is  the  superabounding  and  perennial 
source  of  all  the  virtues  that  have  adorned  the  resplendent 
myriads  of  the  glorious  saints  who  have  illumined  the 
Church  of  God,  a  fountain  whose  fulness  can  never  know 
exhaustion  or  decrease.  In  Christ  we  have  the  realized 
ideal  of  the  beauty  with  which  the  human  soul  has  been 
endowed. 

Would  you  know  the  price  of  it?  Go  with  the  Saviour 
to  the  summit  of  the  mountain  and  hear  the  tempter  say 
as  he  pointed  to  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  and  the 
glory  thereof,  "  All  this  I  will  give  you  if  kneeling  down 
you  will  adore  me."  "Begone,  Satan!"  was  the  reply. 
So,  too,  the  humblest  Christian  in  time  of  temptation  must 
answer  if  the  whole  world  were  laid  at  his  feet,  "  Begone !  " 
What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and 
lose  his  own  soul  ?  The  whole  world  is  valueless  compared 
with  it. 

Or  again,  ask  the  youthful  missionary  who  turns  his  face 


DEDICATION  OF  ST.  MARY'S  CHURCH     245 

from  all  the  honors  and  enjoyments  of  life,  even  those  that 
are  worthy  and  honorable  and  good,  while  he  hurries  away 
to  die  perhaps  amid  torments  among  the  savages  of  some 
forgotten  tribe,  why  he  does  what  to  the  world  is  folly. 
It  is  to  gain  souls.  Ask  the  same  of  the  beloved  daughter 
of  some  holy  Christian  home,  why  she  closes  her  eyes  and 
her  heart  to  all  the  happiness  in  store  for  her  and  buries 
herself  in  a  convent  or  devotes  herself  to  the  ignorant,  the 
helpless,  the  abandoned,  and  the  depraved.  It  is  to  save 
souls.  Better  than  all,  ask  it  of  the  bleeding  and  mangled 
Christ  Himself,  who  hangs  dying  on  the  cross,  and  His 
answer  is,  "  I  die  for  human  souls.  Not  only  for  all,  but 
if  there  were  only  one  soul  to  save,  all  this  and  infinitely 
more  would  I  do  to  gain  for  it  eternal  life."  Such  is  the 
price  of  a  soul :  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ. 

To  win  and  sanctify  and  save  souls  is  the  only  purpose 
of  this  church.  Hence  its  beauty,  hence  its  splendor. 
Everything  in  it  has  that  purpose  and  that  alone;  every  sign 
and  symbol  and  ceremony  and  sacrifice;  every  word  that  is 
uttered  in  it,  every  prayer  that  is  breathed  in  it,  nay,  every 
stone  from  its  foundation  in  the  earth  to  its  cross  in  the 
sky  has  no  other  object  and  can  have  no  other  object  in 
view. 

Here  the  soul's  beauty  is  explained  and  expounded.  Here 
to  save  it  and  adorn  it  are  heard  pleas  and  entreaties 
and  menaces  and  condemnations  and  rebukes.  Here  are 
reiterated  the  promises  of  heaven  and  the  threats  of  hell. 
Here  we  are  warned  again  and  again  in  the  pulpit  and  the 
confessional  against  aught  that  would  injure  the  soul.  Here 
we  are  shown  Christ  on  the  Mountain  of  the  Temptation 
and  Christ  on  the  Mountain  of  Calvary  and  bidden  to  love 
Him.  Here  alone  with  the  sacramental  life  are  we  made 
strong  enough  to  practise  such  virtues,  to  rise  to  such  sacri- 
fices, and  achieve  such  victories. 

In  a  word,  this  church  is  the  city  of  the  soul.     Here  the 


246  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

unending  battle  is  going  on  against  those  whose  assaults 
upon  the  soul's  life  bring  disaster  and  ruin  on  the  world. 

Fittingly  is  it  built  on  the  summit  of  a  hill  overlooking 
the  vast  aggregation  of  mills  and  furnaces  and  factories 
whose  roar  may  sometimes  invade  the  silence  of  the  sanctu- 
ary, and  whose  soot  and  smoke  may  stain  its  walls  and  settle 
upon  its  towers  and  buttresses  high  up  in  the  cloudless  sky. 
But  it  is  better  that  it  should  be  so  than  to  place  it  in  some 
sequestered  and  sacred  solitude  remote  from  the  haunts  of 
men,  where  weary  humanity  may  drag  itself  away  from 
the  throng  to  kneel  in  prayer,  the  world  forgetting  and  by 
the  world  forgot;  —  better,  for  here  the  workman  grimy 
with  his  toil  can  look  up  and  learn  the  ennobling  and  com- 
forting lesson  which  each  stone  inculcates,  appealing  to  him 
all  the  more  forcibly  because  it  is  he  who  out  of  his  hard 
earnings  after  many  years  has  reared  this  noble  pile  as  a 
monument  to  the  faith  that  is  in  him.  It  is  the  cry  of  his 
soul. 

Not  only  better,  but  necessary,  for  no  one  can  consider 
without  a  shudder  the  disturbed  conditions  in  which  society 
finds  itself  to-day;  no  one  can  feel  without  terror  the  trem- 
bling of  the  earth  beneath  his  feet,  or  hear  the  ominous 
rumble,  like  coming  thunder,  that  portends  disaster  more 
terrible  and  far-reaching  than  those  physical  upheavals  so 
constantly  recurring  in  our  days,  which  in  an  instant  strew 
the  ground  with  the  crumbling  ruins  of  the  proudest  cities, 
and  whose  last  vestiges  are  obliterated  by  the  tornado  of 
fire  which  often  sweeps  over  the  wreck. 

Nor  can  anyone  who  loves  his  fellow-men  contemplate 
without  concern  which  sometimes  amounts  to  consternation, 
no  matter  how  his  sympathies  are  engaged,  those  vast  inter- 
national organizations,  the  marshalled  and  disciplined 
armies  of  labor,  arrayed  in  what  appears  to  be  a  death 
struggle  against  the  forces  of  capital  which  it  has  been 
taught  to  regard  as  its  relentless  foe,  and  which  it  is  de- 


DEDICATION  OF  ST.  MARY'S  CHURCH     247 

termined  to  destroy.  No  one  who  loves  humanity  can  note 
without  alarm  how  at  the  lifting  of  a  finger  by  one,  of  whom 
the  outer  world  knows  nothing,  factories  are  closed,  fires 
extinguished,  machinery  halted,  industry  and  commerce  par- 
alyzed, fleets  that  covered  the  seas  with  richest  freightage 
left  empty  at  their  docks,  or  as  in  France  at  the  present 
moment  the  civil  government  itself  rendered  helpless,  the 
officials  flinging  off  their  insignia  and  joining  the  half  a  mil- 
lion people  who  are  building  barricades  in  the  streets  and 
firing  the  government  buildings,  only  to  be  shot  down  by 
government  troops,  while  elsewhere  other  hundreds  of 
thousands,  unchecked,  carry  the  blood-red  flag  through  the 
city  streets,  denouncing  all  rule,  proclaiming  anarchy,  and 
reviling  God.  Even  in  patient  and  patriotic  Japan,  the  last 
accession  to  modern  civilization,  the  news  comes  of  wild 
labor  outbreaks,  where  arson  and  dynamite  and  riot  spread 
ruin  far  and  wide,  and  where  the  wonderful  devotion  to 
their  country  that  the  world  so  recently  admired  is  thrown 
to  the  winds,  and  government  shipyards  and  warships  are 
threatened  with  destruction.  Our  own  country  is  far  from 
tranquil,  and  perhaps  it  is  here  that  the  storm  will  break 
in  all  its  fury. 

How  will  the  disaster  be  averted?  Not  by  mighty  armies, 
not  by  lining  our  coasts  with  impregnable  fortresses;  not  by 
numberless  fleets  that  cost  millions  of  the  people's  money 
to  build  and  maintain,  and  which  seem  like  embattled  cities 
ploughing  the  deep,  but  which  burst  like  bubbles  under  some 
new  device  of  destruction  and  disappear  in  the  waves;  not 
by  the  submarines  which  travel  the  abysses  of  the  ocean 
with  instruments  of  death;  not  by  meeting  force  by  force 
and  mowing  down  the  angry  populace;  not  by  legislation 
which  at  present  is  so  suspected;  not  by  compromise  after 
compromise,  each  one  of  which  is  a  new  surrender;  not  by 
peace  conferences  in  the  palace  of  The  Hague;  not  by  hu- 
manitarian schemes  to  better  the  living  conditions  of  the 


248  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

poor,  though  that  may  help.  By  none  of  these  methods 
will  the  disaster  be  prevented.  They  may  cause  a  tempo- 
rary lull,  but  will  not  stay  the  whirlwind  that  has  been 
let  loose. 

What  then?  There  is  only  one  solution,  only  one  means 
of  salvation,  and  it  is  vividly  exemplified  and  almost  pro- 
claimed in  a  single  page  or  passage  taken  from  the  history 
of  those  fierce  times  when  it  was  the  custom  to  marshal 
thousands  of  men  in  the  Roman  amphitheatre,  and  bid 
them  butcher  each  other  to  make  a  holiday  for  the  savage 
multitude  that  goaded  them  on.  Horrified  by  the  ghastly 
spectacle  again  and  again  repeated,  and  in  despair  of  ar- 
resting what  he  had  so  often  denounced,  a  lonely,  unpro- 
tected priest,  with  uplifted  cross,  rushed  in  between  the 
combatants  to  stay  them  in  their  bloody  work.  He  fell  in 
his  gore,  but  after  that  there  were  no  such  scenes  in  the 
Roman  arena. 

So  in  the  same  way,  only  the  Catholic  Church,  which  has 
borne  the  brunt  of  a  thousand  battles  and  is  crowned  with 
a  thousand  victories,  can  prevent  or  check  this  work  of 
social  ruin  that  is  now  going  on.  It  alone  is  bold  enough 
to  face  the  combatants.  It  alone  dares  to  remonstrate;  it 
alone  dares  to  rebuke;  it  alone  dares  to  threaten,  and  it 
fulfils  its  duty  careless  of  consequences  to  itself.  It  alone 
can  say  to  the  workingman:  "Stop!  There  is  a  God  in 
heaven  who  claims  vengeance  as  His  alone.  There  is  a 
law  of  God  which  forbids  crime,  no  matter  how  you  may 
be  wronged.  There  is  the  proclamation  of  Christ  that  His 
blessedness  may  be  found  in  suffering  and  persecution,  for 
justice'  sake.  You  have  an  immortal  soul  which  God  has 
dowered  with  reason,  and  faith,  which  no  matter  how  down- 
trodden you  may  be  enables  you  to  recognize  how  infinitely 
better  it  is  to  be  the  victim  of  a  crime  than  the  perpetrator. 
I  will  help  you  to  bear  your  burden.  I  will  give  you  the 
holy  sacraments  for  strength  in  the  struggle.  I  will  be 


DEDICATION  OF  ST.   MARY'S  CHURCH     249 

your  friend  and  your  solace  in  your  sorrow.  I  will  kneel 
at  your  bedside  in  sickness  and  death,  and  give  you  light  on 
the  dark  pathway  from  the  grave  to  heaven.  Child  of 
God,  you  who  know  your  divine  origin  and  your  divine 
destiny,  look  up  to  Jesus  Christ,  Who  embraced  poverty 
and  death  for  you.  Poverty  is  not  dishonor,  suffering  is 
not  disgrace,  but  they  may  be,  if  rightly  used,  assurances 
of  eternal  victory." 

It  is  by  these  teachings  so  incomprehensible  to  one  who 
has  not  the  light  of  faith,  that  the  Catholic  Church  can 
keep  her  hold  on  her  children,  and  prevent  them  if  they 
are  faithful  to  her  commands,  no  matter  how  they  are 
tried,  from  ever  entering  the  ranks  of  anarchy  and  disorder. 
If  she  were  to  lose  her  power,  the  consequences  to  the  world 
would  be  fearful  to  contemplate.  Thank  God  she  has  not 
lost  it  and  never  can.  Her  voice  is  recognized  as  the  voice 
of  Christ.  The  Church  of  God  is  the  Church  of  the  poor, 
and  the  poor  know  it,  and  for  that  they  love  her. 

Nor  does  she  fear  to  address  the  other-side.  "  Remem- 
ber," she  cries,  "  wealth  is  not  given  you  for  the  gratifica- 
tion of  pleasure,  the  ostentation  of  pride,  or  the  luxury  of 
idle,  useless,  and  wicked  lives.  The  poor  man  is  your 
brother.  You  are  his  keeper.  It  is  only  the  murderer 
Cain  who  denies  it.  Remember  that  defrauding  laborers 
of  their  wages  is  a  sin  crying  to  heaven  for  vengeance. 
Remember  that  the  meek  and  gentle  Christ  puts  before  our 
eyes  the  appalling  picture  of  the  rich  man  clothed  in  purple 
and  fine  linen  who  scorned  Lazarus  at  his  door,  but  who 
died  and  was  buried  in  hell,  while  Lazarus  was  borne  to 
Abraham's  bosom.  Remember  that  the  responsibilities  of 
the  rich  increase  with  their  accumulation  of  wealth;  that 
God  will  hold  you  accountable  for  its  use  in  bettering  the 
physical  and  moral  conditions  of  those  who  depend  on  you, 
and  remember  also  that  doing  so  not  only  averts  the  crime, 
but  insures  the  possession  of  property  which  otherwise  will 


VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

be  torn  from  your  grasp.  Not  only  divine  but  human  pru- 
dence dictates  that  course." 

Thank  God  they  too  hear  the  voice  of  the  Church;  for 
is  it  not  true  that  the  teachings  of  Christianity  have  swayed 
and  influenced  the  hearts  of  thousands  of  employers  who 
are  kindly,  honest,  God-fearing  men,  who  are  actuated  by 
the  noblest  motives,  who  are  devoted  to  their  workmen, 
and  who  sympathize  with  them  in  their  sorrows,  who  have 
succeeded  in  many  wonderful  ways  in  ameliorating  the  hard 
conditions  of  their  employees  and  have  won  their  affection 
and  loyal  support?  If  some  are  heartless  and  grasping,  let 
not  all  be  condemned.  If  there  are  wrongs,  they  will  be 
sooner  righted  by  patience  than  by  violence,  and  a  few 
words  will  often  prevent  sufferings  that  come  from  igno- 
rance or  misunderstanding.  This  sympathetic  and  mutu- 
ally helpful  union  of  employers  and  employed  is  what  the 
Church  desires,  and  what,  if  not  interfered  with,  she 
achieves.  She  is  by  her  nature  the  ambassador  of  the 
Prince  of  Peace. 

In  old  Catholic  times,  when  she  controlled  the  consciences 
of  the  great  and  the  humble,  the  rich  and  the  poor  alike, 
such  conditions  as  confront  us  to-day  were  inconceivable. 
There  were  great  labor  unions  then  which  were  not  only 
permitted  and  sanctioned,  but  blessed  by  the  Church,  and 
labor,  grateful  for  that  sanction  and  blessing,  did  not  break 
out  into  wild  disorder  as  now,  but  lived  in  peace  and  amity 
with  employers,  and  recorded  their  gratitude  in  those  monu- 
ments of  religion  and  charity  which  they  built,  and  which 
are  still  the  admiration  of  the  world. 

It  was  under  the  guidance  and  compulsion  of  the  Church 
also  that  kings  and  princes  and  nobles  and  the  well-to-do 
poured  out  their  riches  in  abundance  for  the  promotion  of 
religion  and  the  benefit  of  their  fellow-men.  The  troubles 
that  beset  the  social  world  now  began  only  with  the  decline 
of  that  true  spirit  of  Christianity.  Bring  back  Christianity 


DEDICATION  OF  ST.   MARY'S  CHURCH     251 

then  to  the  rich  and  poor  alike,  and  you  will  solve  the  social 
problem,  and  in  no  other  way.  That  is  what  the  Church 
stands  for.  That  is  what  it  means.  Better  than  armies 
and  navies  and  peace  conferences  and  legislation  and  every- 
thing else  that  human  ingenuity  can  devise  is  the  influence 
of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Build  her  temples  on  every  hill- 
side, plant  them  in  every  village,  multiply  them  in  the  great 
centres  of  industry  and  commerce,  and  they  will  be  so  many 
battlements  to  defend  the  nation  from  the  war  of  destruc- 
tion and  anarchy  that  has  been  inaugurated.  Our  civiliza- 
tion is  a  Christian  civilization  for  it  was  founded  by  Christ 
and  fostered  by  the  Church.  Eliminate  Christianity  from 
it  and  you  destroy  the  foundations.  Rescue  Christianity 
which  is  now  neglected  and  in  many  places  despised,  re- 
viled, and  persecuted,  and  you  will  preserve  the  blessings 
which  that  civilization  was  intended  to  impart. 


Bar  Harbor,  Maine,  August  11,  1907 

HIGH  above  the  rocky  fortress  of  Quebec  towers 
the  colossal  statue  of  one  of  the  greatest  heroes 
of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  Sam- 
uel de  Champlain.  He  was  a  daring  navigator,  whose 
caravels  in  the  closing  days  of  the  sixteenth  century  had 
ploughed  the  unknown  Southern  seas,  and  who  even  then 
urged  the  piercing  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  He  was  a 
dauntless  explorer,  who  had  taken  up  the  work  of  the  great 
Cartier,  whom  he  resembled  in  many  ways,  especially  in  his 
holy  ambition  to  extend  the  Kingdom  of  God  by  his  dis- 
coveries. He  led  the  way  through  the  pathless  forests  of 
North  America,  leaving  his  name  and  his  glory  upon  the 
lakes  and  rivers  and  territories.  He  was  a  valiant  warrior 
who  had  faced  death  on  many  a  field  of  the  Old  World  and 
the  New,  and  had  fought  both  savage  and  civilized  foes; 
a  singularly  sagacious  ruler  who  had  guided  with  consum- 
mate prudence  the  helpless  and  deserted  colony  which  he 
had  planted  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  he  is  regarded  by 
the  Empire  which  grew  out  of  the  foundations  of  Quebec 
with  the  same  veneration  that  was  accorded  him  by  his 
devoted  followers,  who  starved  with  him  amid  the  ice  and 
snows  of  the  early  days,  who  stood  by  him  when  he  was 
driven  out  of  his  defenceless  fortress,  and  returned  with 
him  to  continue  the  work  he  had  so  heroically  inaugurated. 
Properly  is  his  memory  glorified  in  the  city  which  nature 
has  made  a  citadel,  and  to  which  his  moral  sublimity  has 
given  incomparably  stronger  defences  in  the  memory  of  his 


CORNERSTONE  LAYING  AT  BAR  HARBOR     253 

virtues.  For  over  and  above  all  his  claims  to  admiration 
and  respect,  this  soldier,  sailor,  and  ruler  was  at  all  times 
and  in  all  circumstances,  amid  the  uproar,  confusion,  and 
temptations  which  his  honors,  obligations,  and  occupations 
forced  upon  him,  not  only  an  unusual  but  an  extraordinarily 
devout  and  fervent  Catholic,  the  ideal  of  many  another 
heroic  and  holy  cavalier  whom  France  sent  out  to  the  New 
World  in  those  days.  He  was  a  modern  Crusader,  with 
all  the  fervor  of  those  of  olden  times.  His  life  in  the  world 
resembled  that  of  a  cenobite  in  his  cloister,  and  his  influence 
and  example  were  so  powerful  that  he  dared  to  draw  up 
rules  of  conduct  for  his  rough  sailors  on  the  high  seas  which 
read  like  the  regulations  of  a  monastery.  His  motto  was 
that  the  salvation  of  a  single  soul  was  better  than  the  build- 
ing of  an  empire,  and  when  dying  he  bequeathed  all  his 
earthly  possessions  for  the  honor  of  the  Mother  of  the 
Holy  Redeemer.  His  figure  dominates  the  mighty  river 
St.  Lawrence,  which  bears  out  to  the  ocean  of  the  world  his 
record  of  heroism  and  holiness,  and  his  gaze  is  directed  to 
the  vast  territory  over  which  Canada  has  extended  its  sway. 
But  what  has  he  to  do  with  Bar  Harbor?  He  has  much 
to  do  with  it.  He  was  its  discoverer.  He  had  come  out  as 
the  lieutenant  of  his  Huguenot  friend,  Du  Cast,  to  found 
the  colony  of  Acadia,  whose  Catholic  and  Calvinistic  com- 
position he  had  condemned  as  impossible,  not  because  he 
was  a  bigot,  but  because  he  was  a  statesman,  and  whose 
geographical  position  he  pointed  out  would  infallibly  make 
it  an  easy  prey  to  its  English  enemies.  He  had  foreseen  the 
disaster  of  the  settlement  of  St.  Croix,  which  realized  its 
name  in  becoming  the  necropolis  of  the  unhappy  sailors;  he 
had  chafed  under  the  dangerous  and  ruinous  delays  of  his 
irresolute  and  inexperienced  commander  whom  he  was  un- 
able to  influence,  but  meantime  he  had  explored  all  the 
islands  and  capes  and  bays  and  rivers  of  Maine  and  has  left 
invaluable  records  of  the  results  of  his  observations.  He 


254  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

had  gone  as  far  as  Cape  Cod  or  Malebarre,  as  he  called  it; 
he  had  ascended  the  rivers  and  explored  the  forests  and 
mountains;  and  after  all  that  was  accomplished,  he  began, 
alone  and  unaided,  his  titanic  struggle  of  a  quarter  of  a 
century  for  the  establishment  of  his  colony  on  the  St. 
Lawrence. 

We  do  not  know  if  he  actually  landed  at  Bar  Harbor, 
but  as  he  gazed  at  the  island  from  the  sea  and  saw  its  bare 
peaks,  rising  desolate  and  drear  from  the  solitude  that 
reigned  beneath,  he  gave  it  the  name,  which  it  still  retains, 
of  I'Isle  aux  Monts  Deserts;  and  that  fact  is  commemorated 
by  the  monument  erected  on  the  shore  by  a  number  of  dis- 
tinguished men  who,  though  aliens  to  his  race  and  religion, 
did  not  permit  their  prejudices  to  obscure  their  admiration 
for  his  greatness;  and  hence  they  have  fixed  for  all  time  on 
the  rock-ribbed  coast  of  Maine,  and  at  the  very  place  in 
which  we  are  assembled,  the  name  of  this  illustrious  Catho- 
lic hero. 

There  is  another  reason  why  the  spirit  of  Samuel  Cham- 
plain  presides  here  to-day. 

Possibly  inspired  by  the  thought  of  Columbus,  who  called 
the  land  on  which  he  first  set  foot  in  the  Western  World, 
San  Salvador,  Champlain  dreamed  of  erecting  somewhere 
on  the  eastern  coast  of  America  a  splendid  basilica  in  honor 
of  the  Holy  Saviour.  He  never  realized  that  ambition,  but 
it  must  have  delighted  his  heart  when  his  friends  called  the 
new  settlement  which  they  established  at  the  foot  of  Mount 
Desert,  Saint  Sauveur;  and  doubtless  he  grieved  with  them 
over  its  early  destruction.  But  had  he  been  able  to  pene- 
trate the  future  he  would  have  been  consoled  to  know  that 
the  name  Saint  Sauveur  would  be  forever  identified  with  the 
place,  and  that  in  the  course  of  time  there  would  arise  in 
the  fairest  part  of  the  island  a  basilica  under  the  title  of 
Holy  Redeemer. 

It  was  to  revive  these  memories  of  the  past  that  this  holy 


CORNERSTONE  LAYING  AT  BAR  HARBOR     255 

name  was  chosen,  and  as  there  is  thus  a  genesis  from  that 
rude  chapel  on  the  beach  to  the  magnificent  church  that 
stands  on  the  noblest  highway  of  Bar  Harbor,  it  may  not 
be  out  of  place  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  present  occasion  to 
recite  the  history  of  that  initial  effort  to  establish  the  faith 
in  this  part  of  the  country.  It  is  a  thrilling  chapter  in  the 
Catholicity  of  Maine. 

The  colony  of  Acadia  on  the  other  side  of  the  bay  had 
been  foredoomed  to  failure.  It  was  more  than  half  Hu- 
guenot in  its  inception,  and  even  the  Catholic  colonists  had 
a  Calvinistic  bias  in  their  mentality  and  way  of  life.  At 
last,  after  many  a  weary  struggle  and  defeat  in  bettering  the 
condition  of  both  the  red  men  and  the  white,  it  was  de- 
termined to  find  a  more  propitious  place  where  the  faith 
might  be  professed  and  practised  without  molestation.  For 
that  reason  Maine  was  chosen;  and  in  1613  the  Jesuits 
Biard,  Masse,  and  Quentin,  with  a  shipload  of  colonists, 
landed  at  Bar  Harbor. 

Unhappily  the  moment  was  unpropitious.  All  that  sum- 
mer of  1613  the  famous  freebooter,  Samuel  Argall  of  Vir- 
ginia, had  been  roaming  those  seas  and  seeking  for  plunder 
to  satisfy  the  ragged  and  ravenous  crew  of  sixty  adventurers 
who  lolled  over  their  cannon  and  scanned  the  horizon  for 
prey.  The  merest  accident  in  the  lifting  of  the  fog  revealed 
to  them  the  existence  of  the  new  colony.  They  saw  the 
unsuspecting  farmers  laying  out  their  fields  and  constructing 
their  cabins.  It  was  a  rich  prize  that  had  dropped  unex-" 
pectedly  into  their  hands,  and,  although  peace  reigned  be- 
tween France  and  England,  it  mattered  little  to  these  buc- 
caneers, and  with  flags  flying  and  cannons  booming  and 
trumpets  demanding  surrender,  they  swooped  down  on  the 
terror-stricken  settlers.  The  contest  was  one-sided  and 
short.  The  French  flag  was  hauled  down;  the  inhabitants 
were  made  prisoners;  some  were  set  adrift  in  open  boats; 
others  taken  aboard  the  English  vessel;  and,  laden  with 


256  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

booty,  Argall  set  sail  in  triumph  for  Virginia.  It  was  the 
end  of  the  French  and  Catholic  occupation  of  Bar  Harbor, 
effected  by  as  shameless  a  bit  of  piracy  as  even  those  riotous 
times  could  furnish.  The  mission  disappeared,  but  not, 
however,  its  memories,  for  the  character  of  the  men  who 
made  that  first  attempt  at  placing  the  cross  of  Christ  in  this 
place  cannot  be  forgotten  by  the  Catholics  of  Maine. 

Among  the  missionaries  of  Saint  Sauveur  who  are  iden- 
tified with  this  place  is  the  humble  lay  brother  Du  Thet. 
His  was  the  first  Christian  blood  to  be  shed  in  these  parts. 
Slain  in  the  brief  battle  in  the  harbor,  his  body  reposes  some- 
where on  the  shore. 

Another  was  the  glorious  Enemond  Masse,  one  of  the 
most  illustrious  of  America's  early  apostles.  He  was  flung 
into  an  open  boat  with  the  Commandant  La  Saussaye  to 
drift  without  chart  or  compass  or  provisions  on  the  stormy 
Atlantic,  and  with  the  almost  absolute  certainty  of  death  by 
drowning  or  starvation.  Happily  they  were  picked  up  by 
some  fishermen  off  the  shore  and  carried  in  safety  to  distant 
France.  La  Saussaye  never  returned  to  regain  his  lost 
glory,  but  twelve  years  after  the  great  disaster,  Masse  stood 
on  the  deck  of  a  frail  vessel  by  the  side  of  the  future  martyr 
Brebeuf  and  came  with  him  to  labor  among  the  savages. 
Driven  out  a  second  time,  he  re-entered  Quebec  with  Cham- 
plain  in  1633,  and  until  the  age  of  seventy-two  labored  un- 
ceasingly amid  hardship  and  danger  and  suffering  to  ad- 
vance the  cause  of  Christianity  and  civilization.  He  was 
no  ordinary  saint.  Though  employed  in  the  luxurious  court 
of  Henry  IV,  his  only  bed  was  a  board;  he  never  ascended 
the  altar  to  celebrate  Mass  unless  a  hair  shirt  tortured  his 
flesh;  he  scourged  himself  daily  with  cruel  disciplines,  fasted 
like  an  anchorite,  and  while  among  his  Indians  lived  with 
them  in  their  filthy  wigwams,  suffering  all  their  privations 
and  not  infrequently  warding  off  starvation  by  the  roots 
he  could  dig  up  in  the  forest.  He  died  worn  out  by  his 


CORNERSTONE  LAYING  AT  BAR  HARBOR     257 

labors  and  sufferings  and  was  buried  on  the  shores  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  near  Quebec,  where  a  grateful  and  admiring 
people  erected  a  monument  in  his  honor  which  tells  the  trav- 
eller that  beneath  it  rest  the  sacred  remains  of  one  of  that 
first  illustrious  cohort  which  faced  martyrdom  in  every  hide- 
ous shape  to  bring  the  savage  tribes  of  this  part  of  the  coun- 
try to  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ.  Masse  did  not  shed  his 
blood,  though  he  would  have  heard  with  joy  the  summons 
to  do  so.  He  is  Maine's  gift  to  Canada's  Christianity. 

The  adventures  of  the  two  other  Jesuits  form  one  of  the 
romances  of  American  history.  They  were  carried  off  to  be 
hanged  in  Virginia.  "  We  hourly  expected,"  wrote  Biard 
when  he  found  himself  down  on  the  James  River,  "  to  walk 
ignominiously  up  the  ladder  to  be  let  down  disgracefully  by 
the  rope."  The  governor,  in  fact,  insisted  upon  it,  but  other 
counsels  prevailed,  and  Biard  and  his  companion  were  sent 
back  to  witness  the  complete  demolition  of  all  the  French 
colonies  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Though  they  were 
threatened  with  death  for  refusing  to.  act  as  guides,  they 
were  compelled  to  look  on  at  the  woful  spectacle.  Recog- 
nized by  their  compatriots,  they  were  set  down  as  traitors 
who  had  led  their  enemies  thither  for  that  savage  work  of 
hatred.  Explanations  were  impossible,  and  they  sailed 
away  as  the  fire  of  the  blazing  dwellings  of  Bar  Harbor  and 
Port  Royal  illumined  the  sky,  cursed  by  their  fellow  country- 
men and  at  the  same  time  certain  of  death  at  the  hands  of 
their  piratical  captors.  Even  to-day  they  are  held  by  some 
historians  as  guilty  of  the  baseness  of  destroying  out  of  re- 
venge the  place  where  they  had  not  been  permitted  to  live. 

Of  Argall's  three  vessels  only  one  ever  reached  Virginia. 
The  second  was  shattered  on  the  rocks  off  the  coast,  and  the 
third,  which  held  the  two  Jesuits,  was  driven  by  tempests 
across  the  Atlantic.  Time  and  time  again  there  was  ques- 
tion of  dropping  them  into  the  ocean,  and  at  last  their  fate 
seemed  irrevocably  fixed  when  the  storm-tossed  bark  was 


258  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

compelled  to  enter  a  port  of  the  Azores.  It  was  a  Portu- 
guese possession,  and  the  presence  of  two  priests  in  chains 
would  mean  death  for  their  captors.  But  they  remained 
hidden  in  the  hold  while  the  bark  was  being  searched,  and 
when  the  sails  were  hoisted  again  and  the  ship  steered  for 
the  coast  of  England,  the  pirates  regarded  with  veneration 
their  two  captives  whose  self-sacrifice  had  saved  both  ship 
and  crew.  With  joy  the  sailors  entered  the  harbor  of  Pem- 
broke in  Wales,  but  there  a  new  danger  awaited  them. 
They  were  in  a  French  vessel  —  the  one  they  had  seized  at 
Bar  Harbor  —  they  had  no  papers  —  they  were  evidently 
freebooters,  and  the  gallows  would  certainly  be  their  fate 
at  the  hands  of  their  own  countrymen.  In  despair  they  ap- 
pealed to  the  Jesuits,  who  came  ashore  and  explained  the 
situation.  In  the  eyes  of  the  English  the  sailors  were  no 
longer  pirates,  but  patriots,  and  the  Jesuits  were  publicly 
thanked  for  protecting  them.  They  were  feasted  by  the 
municipality,  they  discussed  religion  with  the  principal  min- 
isters and  were  sent  back  in  safety  to  France.  But  there 
another  storm  burst  upon  them.  The  story  of  the  disaster 
had  preceded  them  and  had  poisoned  the  public  mind. 
They  were  traitors  to  their  country  and  merited  death. 
Only  the  influence  and  explanations  of  Champlain  saved 
them  from  public  execration  and  perhaps  execution.  Nine 
years  afterward,  Biard  died.  Had  he  lived  only  a  little 
longer  he,  too,  would  have  stood  with  Masse  at  the  side  of 
Brebeuf  and  Champlain,  and  would  have  labored  again 
among  his  degraded  and  beloved  Indians,  but  his  work  was 
done. 

Thus  Saint  Sauveur  passed  from  history,  and  only  the 
memory  of  it  remained.  What  happened  in  the  long  inter- 
val of  three  hundred  years  till  Catholicity  came  back  to  its 
own,  we  do  not  know,  except  that  the  French  Baron  de  Cas- 
tine  was  there,  and  Cadillac,  the  founder  of  Detroit,  was 
its  Seigneur;  but  beyond  that,  nothing.  The  Capuchins 


CORNERSTONE  LAYING  AT  BAR  HARBOR     259 

were  in  the  neighborhood  for  a  while,  and  at  last  the  little 
chapel  of  Saint  Sylvia,  following  no  doubt  the  suggestion 
of  its  name,  sheltered  itself  in  the  woods  and  almost  seemed 
to  fear  to  face  the  world.  But  times  and  men  have  changed, 
and  there  is  now  no  reason  why  the  successors  of  the  heroes 
who  founded  Saint  Sauveur  should  choose  an  out-of-the-way 
place  to  worship  God.  Hence  it  was  that  the  splendid 
church  of  the  Holy  Redeemer,  whose  title  revives  in  an  Eng- 
lish form  the  ancient  and  venerable  name  of  Saint  Sauveur, 
was  projected  to  stand  in  the  most  beautiful  part  of  what  is 
now  no  longer  an  humble  settlement,  but  the  gathering  place 
of  the  wealth  and  fashion  of  the  world. 

Properly  has  such  a  site  been  chosen.  For  no  claim  goes 
further  back  than  Saint  Sauveur's,  and  none  has  around  it 
the  halo  of  such  sacred  memories.  First  in  point  of  time 
and  holiness,  it  should  be  first  in  point  of  honor. 

Its  message  to  the  world  is  a  special  and  a  glorious  one. 
For  although  every  Catholic  church  must  ever  exalt  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ  and  inculcate  the  lessor!  He  has  taught,  the 
duty  falls  with  greater  force  on  those  that  have  the  Holy 
Name  written  on  their  portals.  It  is  especially  urgent  now 
because  the  voice  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  is  heard  ringing 
through  the  world,  commanding  and  compelling  the  minis- 
ters of  God  to  make  the  claims  of  Christ  the  constant  theme 
of  their  instructions  and  exhortations,  and  also  because 
simultaneously  with  this  movement  in  the  Church,  the  united 
energies  of  the  most  determined  and  bitter  enemies  of  Chris- 
tianity are  bent  on  obliterating  all  knowledge,  nay,  if  pos- 
sible, all  remembrance,  of  the  life  and  doctrines  of  the  Re- 
deemer of  mankind  from  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  pres- 
ent generation. 

It  is  easy  to  explain  this  antagonism,  for  there  is  nothing 
that  appeals  to  the  heart  of  man  with  such  power  as  the 
personality  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  comes  as  a  luminous  vision 
out  of  the  darkness  of  the  past.  It  is  only  a  faint  glimmer- 


26o  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

ing  at  first,  but  all  along  the  pathway  of  the  ages  the  great 
prophets  of  God,  towering  aloft  in  their  exalted  sanctity,  are 
stationed  to  call  out  to  the  slumbering  nations  to  lift  up  their 
eyes  and  see  the  glory  with  which  the  earth  is  being  il- 
lumined. Clearer  and  more  distinct  the  beauty  and  power 
and  majesty  of  His  countenance  are  revealed,  as  time  con- 
tinues on  its  course;  and  when  at  last  He  blesses  the  earth 
by  His  presence  with  all  the  light  of  the  now-verified  proph- 
ecies upon  Him,  He  appears  as  the  fairest  of  the  children 
of  men,  crowned  with  every  gracious  and  lovely  gift  that  can 
adorn  humanity.  He  is  tender  and  sweet  and  compassion- 
ate; He  is  radiant  with  holiness,  and  points  the  way  from  the 
depths  of  sin  to  the  most  transcendent  sanctity.  The  multi- 
tudes forget  the  necessities  of  life,  and  follow  Him  into  the 
desert  to  listen  to  the  music  of  His  words,  and  to  feed  on 
the  sweetness  of  His  lips  that  distil  honey  and  the  honey- 
comb. 

All  nature  does  His  bidding;  the  sea  grows  solid  beneath 
His  feet,  and  the  storm  is  stilled;  strength  returns  to  the 
palsied  limbs,  and  sight  to  the  darkened  eye,  and  even 
the  sepulchres  give  up  their  dead.  The  angelic  hosts  sing 
their  canticles  of  joy  above  His  crib  at  Bethlehem;  a  heav- 
enly splendor  illumines  Him  on  Mount  Thabor;  in  majesty 
and  power  He  rises  from  the  tomb,  and  amid  the  radiant 
armies  of  heaven  He  ascends  from  earth  to  take  possession 
of  the  kingdom  He  has  won  for  mankind.  But  best  of  all, 
the  deepest  darkness  of  Calvary  in  which  He  dies  becomes 
His  greatest  glory,  and  His  cross  of  ignominy  is  the  instru- 
ment with  which  He  conquers  the  world. 

But  that  is  not  all.  He  is  not  only  Man,  but  God;  He  is 
the  Second  Person  of  the  Adorable  Trinity;  He  is  the  ever- 
lasting, omnipotent  One,  the  Lord  and  Master  and  Ruler  of 
the  Universe ;  the  Creator  by  Whom  and  in  Whom  all  things 
were  made,  and  before  Whom  all  creatures  in  heaven  and 
earth  must  bow.  He  is  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  be- 


CORNERSTONE  LAYING  AT  BAR  HARBOR     261 

ginning  and  the  end,  from  Whom  all  things  derive  and  to 
Whom  they  all  return;  Jesus  Christ,  the  Lord  God,  yester- 
day, to-day,  and  forever.  Well  may  we  echo  the  indignant 
and  almost  angry  cry  of  St.  Paul :  "  Let  him  who  loveth  not 
Jesus  Christ  be  anathema." 

On  one  of  the  loftiest  peaks  of  the  Andes,  on  the  frontiers 
of  Chile  and  Argentina,  stands  a  colossal  statue  of  the 
Divine  Redeemer.  It  was  erected  as  a  perpetual  guarantee 
of  friendship  between  the  two  nations,  a  barrier  against  war 
and  bloodshed;  a  divine  appeal,  that  if  ever  they  are  aroused 
to  rage  and  fury  against  each  other,  the  waves  of  passion 
may  break  at  the  feet  of  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

Happy  would  we  be  if  here  at  this  gateway  of  the  ocean, 
upon  the  lofty  hill  that  towers  above  us,  there  were  some 
such  splendid  memorial  of  Christ  dominating  the  tumultu- 
ous ocean  that  breaks  on  the  shore,  as  well  as  the  restless 
billows  of  social  and  political  discontent  that  menace  ruin  in 
the  land  beyond.  For  we  must  not  forget  that  it  is  only  His 
law  that  can  insure  peace  and  permanency  to  a  nation.  The 
apostasy  from  Christianity  cannot  be  anything  but  an  ap- 
palling menace  to  civilization. 

Such  a  monument  will  in  all  probability  never  be  erected 
there,  but  more  eloquent  lessons  will  be  taught  by  the  church 
which  is  to  be  here  at  the  base  of  the  mountain.  Every  stone 
of  it  will  preach  its  sermon  to  the  world.  Every  sign  and 
symbol  and  ceremony  will  appeal  to  those  who  are  outside 
its  walls. 

Its  pulpit  will  plead,  its  fervent  prayers  will  impetrate, 
its  sacraments  will  illumine;  and,  above  all,  its  unceasing 
sacrifice  will  propitiate  the  anger  of  God.  Nay,  its  people 
will  be  other  Christs.  By  the  divine  life  which  they  will  re- 
ceive at  the  altar  they  will  co-operate  with  Him  to  whom 
this  church  is  consecrated.  Their  moral  principles,  which 
are  His,  will  impart  stability  to  the  constitutions  of  their 
country,  and  the  possession  of  sanctifying  grace  will  shed  a 


262  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

divine  character  on  their  earthly  lives  which  will  be  but  a 
preparation  for  the  eternal  blessedness  they  shall  possess, 
when  they  shall  see  face  to  face  the  Divine  Person  Whom 
behind  the  veil  of  faith  they  adored  and  served  on  earth  as 
the  Holy  Redeemer. 


The  Reconsecration  of  the 
Father  Rasle  Monument 

Nonridgewok,  Maine,  August  23,  1907 

IT  is  two  hundred  years  ago  since  Catholicity  first  came 
to  Norridgewok,  or  Narantsouac,  as  it  was  then  called. 
In  1646  two  Jesuit  priests  left  the  protecting  walls  of 
Quebec  to  go  out  into  the  wilderness  to  preach  the  Gospel  to 
the  Indians.  One  was  Isaac  Jogues,  who  with  the  ever- 
memorable  words  upon  his  lips,  Ibo  sed  non  redibo,  "  I  go 
but  I  shall  not  return,"  calmly  and  joyfully  went  forward 
to  his  bloody  death  on  the  Mohawk.  The  other  was  the 
glorious  Gabriel  Druillettes,  who  carried  his  canoe  around 
the  seething  cataract  of  the  Chaudiere,  where  that  river 
leaps  over  the  scarred  rocks  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  paddled 
up  to  its  source,  and,  crossing  to  the  Kennebec,  descended 
the  stream  until  it  brought  him  to  the  sea;  the  first  white 
man  to  make  the  perilous  journey. 

He  was  the  first  missionary  at  Norridgewok.  We  have 
told  his  wonderful  story  before,  and  it  is  sufficient  to  recall 
how,  after  laboring  here,  he  was  compelled  to  withdraw. 
Later  on,  we  see  him  struggling  to  reach  the  Indians  far 
up  at  the  North  Sea,  then  journeying  to  the  west  with  the 
saintly  Garreau,  who  was  cruelly  murdered  on  the  Island 
of  Montreal;  and  finally  in  his  old  age,  lifting  up  the  cross 
on  the  far-away  shores  of  Lake  Superior.  The  Kennebec 
may  be  proud  of  its  first  apostle. 

The  two  Fathers  Bigot  came  next,  the  elder  of  whom, 
exhausted  by  his  many  years  of  labor  on  the  Kennebec,  was 
carried  by  his  devoted  brother  to  the  blessed  sanctuary  on 
the  St.  Lawrence,  where  the  darkness  of  death  was  bright- 


264  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

ened  by  the  presence  of  his  Indians,  who  remembered  his 
dying  instructions  and  continued  his  apostolic  work  by  re- 
peating them  to  their  people.  It  was  he  who  built  "  the 
rude  unshapely  chapel "  that  Whittier  has  immortalized. 

Above  them  all,  however,  rises  the  luminous  figure  of 
Sebastian  Rasle,  who,  more  than  all  the  rest,  is  the  apostle 
of  Narantsouac.  His  Unitarian  biographer  and  admirer, 
Converse  Francis,  says  of  him:  "  I  am  deeply  moved  by  the 
life  of  this  pious,  devoted,  and  extraordinary  man.  Nur- 
tured amidst  European  learning,  and  accustomed  to  the 
refinements  of  one  of  the  most  intellectual  nations  of  the 
Old  World,  he  banished  himself  from  the  pleasures  of  home 
and  from  the  attractions  of  his  native  land,  and  passed 
thirty-five  years  of  his  life  in  the  forests  of  an  unbroken  wil- 
derness, amidst  the  squalid  rudeness  of  savage  life,  and 
with  no  companions  during  those  long  years  but  the  wild 
men  of  the  woods.  With  them  he  lived  as  a  benefactor  and 
a  brother,  sharing  their  coarse  fare,  their  disgusting  modes 
of  life,  their  wants,  their  perils,  their  exposures,  under  the 
stern  inclemency  of  a  hard  climate,  always  holding  his  life 
cheap  in  the  toil  of  duty,  and  at  last  yielding  himself  a  vic- 
tim to  dangers  he  disdained  to  escape.  And  all  this  that  he 
might  gather  these  rude  men  into  the  fold  of  the  Church 
and  bring  them  to  what  he  sincerely  held  to  be  the  truth  of 
God  and  the  light  of  heaven." 

Of  marvellous  austerity  of  life,  he  never  let  wine  cross  his 
lips;  his  only  food  was  hominy,  and  at  times  nothing  but 
nuts  and  acorns  which  he  dug  up  in  the  forest;  and  in  his 
latter  years  he  not  unfrequently  suffered  the  agonies  of 
starvation. 

Heroic  in  his  views  of  obedience,  he  readily  abandoned 
his  most  cherished  purpose  and  traversed  the  continent,  then 
in  its  wildest  condition,  in  pursuit  of  souls.  Constantly 
united  with  God,  in  the  midst  of  his  overwhelming  labors, 
he  never  omitted  his  yearly  spiritual  retreat  in  distant  Que- 


RECONSECRATION,  RASLE  MONUMENT     265 

bee,  and  never  changed  the  time,  lest  his  desire  of  it  might 
be  less  fervent. 

Devoted  to  his  flock,  he  followed  them  on  their  expedi- 
tions for  twenty  years  after  an  accident  had  crippled  his 
limbs;  of  angelic  purity  of  life,  he  was  untouched  by  the 
moral  horrors  with  which  he  was  surrounded,  and  of  superb 
courage  he  could  reply  to  his  superiors  who  saw  the  dark 
storm  gathering  and  wanted  to  save  him,  "  I  will  not  with- 
draw; it  is  proper  that  I  should  die  with  my  flock";  and 
finally,  when  the  moment  came,  he  faced  the  blazing  muskets 
of  the  foe  to  protect  his  people,  and  like  the  Sebastian  of 
old,  fell  in  his  blood,  riddled  by  the  musket  balls  of  the  foe. 

It  was  when  the  seventeenth  century  was  drawing  to  a 
close  that  he  came  to  Narantsouac.  That  was  in  1697  or 
1698,  and  until  the  23d  of  August,  1724,  the  day  of  his 
tragic  death,  there  never  was  a  moment  that  was  not  stamped 
with  the  sublimest  heroism. 

Unfortunately  he  came  when  the  ownership  of  the  land 
between  the  Penobscot  and  the  Kennebec  was  disputed.  It 
was  a  question  as  to  whether  Acadia  extended  to  the  Penob- 
scot or  to  the  Kennebec,  but  the  controversy  should  never 
have  been  settled  by  the  murder  of  a  minister  of  God.  That 
he  kept  the  Indians  loyal  to  the  French  was  no  more  of  a 
reproach  than  for  the  English  of  Boston  to  have  kept  their 
Indians  loyal  to  them.  He  would  have  been  a  traitor  to 
his  country  to  have  done  otherwise.  That  he  fomented  In- 
dian uprisings  was  a  calumny  which  he  himself  has  refuted, 
and  the  testimony  of  such  a  man  is  sufficient,  or,  if  corrobo- 
ration  were  needed,  we  have  the  word  of  that  glorious  old 
Revolutionary  hero,  John  Stark,  in  whose  greatness  Maine 
rejoices,  that  his  own  native  place,  though  exposed  to  the 
brunt  of  Indian  warfare,  was  always  preserved  from  savage 
violence  by  the  interposition  of  Father  Rasle.  That  his 
death  is  a  blot  upon  our  honor,  we  should  admit  with  those 
brave  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  who,  on  their  way  up  the 


266  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

Kennebec  in  1775  to  capture  Quebec,  lingered  lovingly  in 
the  sacred  place.  "  At  a  short  distance  below  Norridgewok 
Falls,"  says  their  annalist,  who  was  none  other  than  Benedict 
Arnold,  their  commander,  not  yet  dishonored  by  his  trea- 
son, "  was  a  wide  and  beautiful  plain,  once  the  site  of  an 
Indian  village,  belonging  to  a  tribe  from  whom  the  falls 
took  their  name,  and  memorable  in  the  annals  of  former 
days  as  the  theatre  of  a  tragical  event,  in  which  many  of 
the  tribe  were  slain  in  a  sudden  attack,  and  among  them 
Father  Rasle,  the  venerable  and  learned  missionary  who 
had  dwelt  there  twenty-six  years.  The  foundations  of  a 
church  and  of  an  altar  in  ruins  are  still  visible,  the  only  re- 
maining memorials  of  a  people  whose  name  was  once 
feared,  and  of  a  man  who  exiled  himself  from  all  the  en- 
joyments of  civilization  to  plant  the  cross  in  a  savage  wil- 
derness, and  who  lost  his  life  in  its  defence.  Let  history 
tell  the  story  as  it  may,  and  let  it  assign  such  motives  as  it 
may  for  the  conduct  of  the  assailants,  the  heart  of  him  is 
little  to  be  envied  who  can  behold  the  melancholy  vestiges 
of  a  race  extinct,  or  pass  by  the  grave  of  Rasle,  without  a 
tear  of  sympathy  and  a  sigh  of  regret." 

The  unhappy  and  unchristian  lust  for  land,  which  was 
then  and  is  still  inflicting  such  dishonor  upon  the  world, 
almost  inevitably  ending  in  the  destruction  of  all  the  native 
races,  was  at  the  back  of  this  tragedy.  But  now  that  the 
bitterness  of  religious  feeling  has  subsided,  it  may  be  safely 
said  without  offence,  that  there  was  also  an  element  of  hatred 
for  the  religion  which  the  Indians  practised,  and  of  which 
their  missionary  was  such  an  illustrious  example,  that 
prompted  this  deed  which  has  left  such  a  blot  upon  our  his- 
tory; but  for  which  Maine  is  not  responsible,  for  the  ag- 
gressors came  from  beyond  its  borders. 

As  early  as  1705  an  attempt  was  made  to  murder  the 
missionary.  When  the  snow  was  deep  on  the  ground  and 
the  country  was  like  a  frozen  lake,  two  hundred  and  seventy 


RECONSECRATION,  RASLE  MONUMENT     267 

men  on  snow  shoes  invested  the  village.  They  found  it  de- 
serted; the  inhabitants  had  fled,  and  the  record  of  the  raid 
merely  says  in  its  rude  way:  "The  large  chapel  with  the 
vestry  at  the  end  of  it,  and  the  house,  the  troops  burned  to 
the  ground."  They  thought  no  more  than  that  of  the 
dreadful  desolation  they  had  caused.  Leaving  helpless 
women  and  children  in  the  snows  of  the  Maine  woods,  dese- 
crating the  temple  of  God,  and  hunting  its  minister  like  a 
wolf,  aroused  no  horror  in  their  hearts. 

Sixteen  years  afterward,  the  General  Court  of  Massachu- 
setts sent  three  hundred  men  to  repeat  the  outrage.  Rasle 
had  barely  time  to  escape  with  his  life,  for  his  crippled  limbs 
made  flight  difficult,  and  at  one  time  he  lay  crouching  in  the 
snow  within  a  few  feet  of  his  pursuers.  He  returned  to 
find  himself  in  the  midst  of  the  ruin  of  his  beloved  mission. 

The  last  act  of  the  tragedy  occurred  on  August  23,  1724. 
Three  hundred,  some  say  one  thousand,  men  surrounded 
the  village  and  without  warning  opened  fire  on  the  helpless 
inhabitants.  A  mad  rush  was  made  for  the  river;  some 
sprang  into  the  canoes,  but  had  no  paddles ;  others  attempted 
to  swim  the  stream;  not  more  than  fifty  gained  the  oppo- 
site bank,  and  of  these  some  fell,  pierced  by  bullets  before 
they  could  gain  the  shelter  of  the  woods.  Where  was 
Father  Rasle?  Standing  under  the  village  cross,  confront- 
ing the  foe  to  save  his  people.  There  he  fell;  his  skull  was 
crushed  in;  his  white  scalp  (he  was  then  near  seventy)  was 
torn  off  and  sold  in  Boston.  The  buildings  were  given  to 
the  flames,  and  when  the  troops  withdrew  some  of  the  poor 
Indians  stole  back,  gathered  up  the  mangled  remains  of 
their  beloved  father,  and  buried  them  under  the  smoulder- 
ing remains  of  the  altar  where  that  morning  he  had  offered 
the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass.  Around  him  were  buried 
the  seven  noble  Abenakis  who  had  died  to  defend  him. 
And  so  Narantsouac  passed  away  forever. 

And  yet  it  has  not  passed  away.    The  memory  of  Narant- 


268  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

souac  can  never  be  obliterated  from  the  history  of  Maine. 
It  will  never  cease  to  be  a  sanctuary  to  which  men  will  come 
to  meditate  and  pray.  For  all  time  it  is  consecrated  ground, 
invested  with  a  holiness  that  no  other  place  possesses.  For 
though  our  heart  thrills  with  emotion  when  we  find  our- 
selves standing  upon  some  ensanguined  battlefield  where 
thousands  have  died  in  defence  of  their  country's  honor  or 
life,  and  though  we  understand,  as  Lincoln  so  splendidly 
expressed  it  on  the  field  of  Gettysburg,  that  the  blood  of  a 
nation's  soldiers  imparts  a  consecration  to  the  place  where 
it  is  shed,  we  know  also  that  over  and  above  even  this  neces- 
sary, noble,  and  holy  love  of  country,  the  instinct  of  religion 
exerts  a  stronger  and  more  ineradicable  power  over  the 
human  soul.  It  is  the  soul's  acknowledgment  of  God's  su- 
preme right  over  His  creation,  and  hence  it  is  that  men  of 
all  creeds  and  men  with  none  will  in  spite  of  themselves  con- 
fess to  a  feeling  of  awe  when  they  enter  the  precincts  of  this 
holy  place,  where  sacrifice  was  once  offered  to  Almighty 
God,  and  where  a  noble  priest  poured  out  his  blood  upon 
the  steps  of  the  altar.  The  existence  and  character  of 
Narantsouac  are  fixed  forever.  Nor  will  the  name  of 
Father  Rasle  be  ever  forgotten.  Statesmen  and  soldiers 
and  scholars  have  come  and  gone  in  the  upbuilding  of  the 
nation.  Their  deeds  are  chronicled  in  our  histories  and 
their  statues  adorn  our  public  places.  They  have  gained 
the  fame  which  they  sought,  but,  alas !  the  records  of  their 
achievements  soon  grow  dim  in  the  nation's  memory.  But 
here  is  one  who  fled  from  recognition,  who,  self-exiled  from 
his  country,  buried  himself  in  the  impenetrable  forests,  yet 
who,  more  than  fifty  years  before  the  American  Revolution, 
stood  forth  a  conspicuous  figure  in  our  national  life.  The 
long  struggle  for  his  hold  on  the  Indians  and  the  dark  trag- 
edy of  his  taking  off  form  one  of  the  vivid  pages  of  our 
country's  annals.  Fifty  years  after  his  death  our  Revolu- 
tionary heroes  come  to  his  grave  and  venerate  his  memory. 


RECONSECRATION,  RASLE  MONUMENT     269 

A  hundred  years  go  by;  a  great  prelate  raises  a  monolith 
above  his  ashes,  and  our  universities  and  museums  glory  in 
the  possession  of  his  relics.  Harvard  treasures  his  writ- 
ings, and  Portland  his  cross  and  the  case  in  which  he  kept 
his  chalice.  Historians  who  are  aliens  to  his  faith  proclaim 
the  greatness  of  his  deeds,  and  poets  weave  in  immortal 
verse  the  story  of  his  noble  life.  Under  the  guidance  of 
the  devoted  bishop  who  is  inspired  by  the  memory  of  the 
martyred  priest,  vast  throngs  are  now  gathered  on  the 
anniversary  of  his  death,  and  are  no  doubt  beginning  that 
long  series  of  other  pilgrimages  to  his  tomb,  where  thou- 
sands will  pay  their  tribute  of  piety  and  love;  and  perhaps 
in  the  course  of  time  the  Church,  recognizing  the  heroism 
of  its  minister,  may  place  a  halo  upon  his  brow  and  salute 
him  as  a  saint  and  martyr.  Is  there  any  greater  man  in  the 
history  of  Maine? 

Nor  is  Rasle  merely  a  memory.  For  in  spite  of  all  the 
triumphs  of  modern  civilization,  in  spite  of  the  limitless 
power  of  the  mighty  nations  it  has  founded,  the  splendid 
cities  it  has  built,  its  stupendous  wealth,  its  material  prog- 
ress, its  startling  scientific  discoveries,  its  mastery  of  sea  and 
of  earth  and  sky,  it  is,  nevertheless,  displaying  to  an  alarm- 
ing extent  and  in  most  unexpected  ways  tendencies  which 
almost  forebode  and  perhaps  announce  a  reversal  to  primi- 
tive savage  conditions.  Look  at  the  millions  of  men  torn 
from  all  the  arts  and  occupations  of  peace,  whom  Clemen- 
ceau,  the  savage  depredator  of  France,  described  as  "  a 
soldiery  of  slaves,"  armed  with  terrible  instruments  of 
death,  and  ready  to  butcher  each  other  at  any  moment,  and 
whom  the  envoys  of  peace  at  The  Hague  do  not  dare  to 
disband  or  disarm.  Are  they  very  far  removed  from  the 
old  Iroquois  on  the  war-path?  Are  those  millions  of  or- 
ganized anarchists  who  announce  their  intention  of  destroy- 
ing all  existing  governments,  and  whose  history  is  already 
written  in  outrages  of  the  most  inhuman  description,  very 


270  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

unlike  the  savages  of  old  in  their  wild  outbreaks  of  rapine 
and  murder?  Are  the  now  common  violations  of  inter- 
national justice  in  the  oppression  and  robbery  of  weaker 
nations  by  the  stronger  anything  but  conditions  which  were 
supposed  to  be  long  since  extinguished  by  modern  civiliza- 
tion? Is  the  abolition  of  domestic  decency,  the  constantly 
repeated  rupture  of  the  marriage  bond  followed  by  new 
associations  till  a  condition  is  arrived  at  almost  of  shame- 
less promiscuity,  anything  else  but  a  return  to  savage  modes 
of  life?  Is  the  abandonment  of  Christianity,  the  openly 
avowed  abolition  of  the  moral  law  which  has  hitherto  ob- 
tained in  our  economic  and  social  relations,  anything  but 
savage?  Is  the  scientific  teaching  of  pantheism  which  is 
now  in  vogue  anything  but  a  renewal  of  paganism  and  the 
worship  of  nature?  Is  the  present  state  of  things  more 
assuring  to  the  governments  of  the  world  than  was  that  of 
the  colonies  when  the  Hurons  and  Mohawks  and  Abenakis 
were  setting  fire  to  villages  and  attacking  stockades?  There 
are  not  a  few  wise  men  who  regard  it  as  a  critical  period  in 
the  life  of  our  present  civilization,  and  who  see  no  way  of 
averting  the  disaster. 

Rasle  shows  the  way.  Behold  him,  all  alone  in  these 
dark  forests,  standing  with  his  uplifted  cross,  in  the  midst 
of  his  savages,  checking  their  atrocities  in  war,  preventing 
their  hideous  murders,  restraining  their  unbridled  lusts,  put- 
ting an  end  to  their  indescribable  orgies  of  drunkenness  and 
debauchery,  explaining,  exhorting,  entreating,  imploring, 
where  his  life  was  continually  in  danger,  on  their  bloody 
battlefields,  in  their  forests,  in  their  filthy  cabins,  in  the 
midst  of  disease  and  defilement,  speaking  to  them  of  God, 
of  their  souls,  of  heaven,  of  hell,  of  morality,  and  finally, 
in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  white  men  to  stop  him  by  depriving 
him  of  life,  leading  them  by  superhuman  efforts,  after  years 
of  indescribable  hardship  and  suffering,  to  some  knowledge 
of  human  dignity  and  human  obligations,  transforming 


RECONSECRATION,  RASLE  MONUMENT     271 

them  into  Christian  men  and  women,  and  developing  in 
them  Christian  virtues  as  brilliant  as  those  that  illustrated 
the  early  Church. 

Thus  from  the  woods  of  the  Kennebec  Rasle  arises  as  an 
apostle  of  modern  times.  For  the  words  that  come  from 
the  lips  of  this  man,  long  since  dead,  are  simply  this :  "  Bring 
back  the  world  to  Christianity.  Teach  the  doctrines  of 
Christ;  enforce  His  laws."  Without  those  doctrines  and 
without  those  laws  the  Abenakis  would  have  rotted  in  their 
corruption;  without  them  the  civilized  nations  of  to-day  will 
inevitably  descend  into  a  similar  degradation.  Such  is  the 
lesson  which  he  taught  on  the  first  day  that  he  crept  into 
an  Indian  wigwam,  and  he  is  teaching  the  same  lesson  now. 

His  lips  indeed  are  mute,  but  for  seventy-five  years  in 
these  lonely  woods  has  this  silent  shaft  been  repeating  his 
exhortations.  Through  storm  and  sunshine,  through  dark- 
ness and  light,  while  the  lightning  was  quivering  above  its 
head,  and  the  snows  and  heats  have  been  eating  into  its 
heart  and  undermining  the  foundations  beneath  its  feet,  it 
has  been  holding  aloft  the  sacred  symbol  of  salvation,  the 
cross,  which  is  the  summary  and  substance  of  Christianity; 
not  indeed  as  the  old  Roman  legions  saw  it  glittering  in  the 
skies  with  the  words  above  it,  "  In  this  sign  shalt  thou  con- 
quer " ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  in  the  way  it  is  most  commonly 
regarded  to-day,  namely,  as  a  sign  of  reproach,  an  emblem 
of  ignorance,  a  proof  of  intellectual  servitude,  and  a  badge 
of  superstition;  yet,  nevertheless,  for  those  who  have  eyes 
to  see,  as  radiant  as  the  sun,  and  with  the  same  words  flash- 
ing above  it  as  saluted  the  old  Roman  legionaries,  "  In  this 
sign  shalt  thou  conquer."  For  just  as  in  the  divine  scheme 
of  salvation  it  was  necessary  that  Christ  should  abide  in 
humiliation  in  order  that  He  might  rise  in  glory,  so  it  is 
ordained  that  while  belief  in  Him  is  almost  invariably  asso- 
ciated with  reproach  and  contempt,  it  gives  at  the  same  time 
a  divine  assurance  of  rising  with  Christ  in  the  glory  of  eter- 


272  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

nal  life.  In  brief,  it  is  in  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  alone; 
it  is  in  the  cross  which  is  its  concrete  expression,  that  there 
is  to  be  found  salvation,  not  only  for  individual  souls,  but 
for  the  nations  of  the  world.  The  monument  that  has  been 
all  these  years  lifting  up  the  cross  of  Father  Rasle  to  heaven 
has  been  doing  nothing  else  than  preaching  that  hard  but 
salutary  truth. 

So,  too,  has  every  sod  of  this  sacred  soil  been  eloquent  in- 
the  same  manner.  From  the  blood  which  has  crimsoned 
and  consecrated  the  earth  with  which  his  ashes  have  com- 
mingled, comes  the  loud,  the  jubilant,  the  triumphant  cry 
that,  better  than  all  the  world  can  give,  better  than  the  best 
blood  of  a  man's  heart,  is  his  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  Lo! 
here  lies  a  man,  and  let  us  say  it  with  all  submission  to  the 
Church's  future  decision,  here  lies  a  martyr  who  not  only 
sacrificed  all  his  earthly  possessions  that  he  might  attest  his 
own  faith,  but  who  made  his  life  one  of  inconceivable  suffer- 
ing, and  poured  out  every  drop  of  his  blood  that  the  most 
abandoned  creatures  he  could  find  might  participate  in  this 
infinite  blessing.  In  a  word,  the  blood  of  Father  Rasle  will 
ever  proclaim  the  truth  which  Christ  uttered  on  the  Mount 
of  the  Beatitudes,  namely,  "  Happy  are  we  if  we  suffer  per- 
secution for  justice,"  which  means  nothing  else  than  that 
aggregate  of  virtue  which  can  alone  be  achieved  through 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  Happy  are  we  if  we  suffer  either  to 
retain  or  to  obtain  this  faith.  It  is  a  small  price  to  pay  for 
our  eternal  salvation. 

But  of  what  avail  is  this  voice  in  the  wilderness?  Of 
what  avail  ?  Why,  there  was  another  voice  crying  out  in  the 
wilderness  and  all  Judea  and  Galilee  came  out  to  hear  it; 
the  heavens  repeated  its  refrain,  and  the  whole  world  has 
been  hearkening  to  it  ever  since :  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God."  So,  too,  this  precursor  of  Christ  cried  out  in  the 
wilderness  of  the  Kennebec,  and  the  whole  world  has  heard 
him. 


RECONSECRATION,  RASLE  MONUMENT     273 

Go  back  to  the  scenes  which  the  old  Quaker  bard  de- 
scribes when 

"  Well  might  the  traveller  start  to  see 
The  dusky  forms  that  wend  their  way 
From  the  birch  canoe  on  the  river  shore, 
And  the  forest  path  to  the  chapel  door; 
And  mark  the  foreheads  bended  there; 
While  above  in  benediction  and  in  prayer, 
Like  a  shrouded  spectre,  pale  and  tall, 
In  coarse  white  vesture  —  Father  Rasle." 

Nor  let  us  ever  erase  from  our  memory  that  historic 
scene  when  our  Revolutionary  heroes  stood  with  moistened 
eye  and  throbbing  heart  to  contemplate  the  blackened  ruins 
of  God's  sanctuary,  crimsoned  by  the  blood  of  God's  priest. 
In  sadness  and  sorrow  they  turned  away,  and  no  doubt 
fought  all  the  better  for  their  country  for  having  been  privi- 
leged to  stand  at  the  grave  of  one  who  had  died  for  God. 

Remember  also  how  seventy-five  years  ago  a  great  multi- 
tude assembled  here,  of  every  creed  and  every  station,  red 
men  and  white,  who  stood  around  this  cross,  at  a  time  when 
prejudice  was  harsh  and  bitter  and  ignorance  engendered 
suspicion,  but  who  nevertheless  rejoiced  to  share  in  the 
homage  paid  to  a  great  and  a  noble  man.  Nor  should  we 
forget  those  solitary  pilgrims  who  journeyed  hither  to  medi- 
tate upon  the  tragic  story,  to  kneel  perhaps  in  prayer  above 
his  remains,  or  press  their  lips  upon  the  stone  that  stands  as 
a  sentinel  on  his  grave.  Rasle  spoke  to  them. 

And  may  we  not  cherish  the  hope,  when  we  behold  the 
throngs  that  are  here  to-day  to  commemorate  his  glorious 
deeds  and  inspire  their  own  hearts  with  the  story  of  his 
heroism,  that  for  all  time  to  come  other  multitudes  will  bend 
their  steps  to  this  woodland  sanctuary  for  meditation  and 
prayer,  where  every  blade  of  grass,  every  sod,  every  grain 
of  sand,  every  leaf,  and  every  wild  flower  that  wafts  its 
tribute  of  fragrance  around  his  grave,  and  every  wavelet  of 
the  river  that  flashes  in  the  sunshine  or  grows  dark  in  the 
gloom  of  the  forest,  not  only  proclaim  the  glory  and  great- 


274  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

ness  of  him  who  died  for  his  fellow-man,  but  teach  the  es- 
sential and  necessary  truth  that  in  Jesus  Christ  alone  we 
can  find  the  light  which  leads  through  the  otherwise  im- 
penetrable mysteries  of  life,  that  through  Him  alone  we 
can  grow  in  the  heroism  which  is  called  for  in  the  battles 
we  must  sustain,  and  that  toward  Him  alone  we  must  tend 
if  the  heart  is  ever  to  find  peace  and  rest. 

But  why  should  we  speak  only  of  the  living?  Lo!  the 
long  processions  of  the  dead  are  seen  wending  their  way 
hither,  and  we  may  regard  it  as  little  less  than  an  inspira- 
tion that  prompted  your  apostolic  bishop,  Louis  Sebastian 
Walsh,  to  consecrate  forever  as  God's  Acre  this  holy  spot, 
where  his  illustrious  namesake,  Sebastian  Rasle,  laid  down 
his  life  for  Christ.  It  was  a  thought  from  heaven  which 
provided  that  the  beloved  dead  of  this  vast  diocese  might  be 
laid  side  by  side  with  Maine's  great  confessor  and  proto- 
martyr.  Could  there  be  a  better  or  a  holier  resting  place 
for  those  who  lived  for  Christ  than  this  beautiful  conse- 
crated place;  and  can  the  Catholic  heart  fail  to  feel  any- 
thing but  the  profoundest  gratitude  for  the  noble  and  spir- 
itual and  Catholic  solicitude  that  has  irrevocably  dedicated 
this  venerable  sanctuary  to  God,  so  that  never  through 
the  lapse  of  time  will  any  profane  thing  enter  within  its 
precincts?  And  is  it  an  illusion  to  fancy  that  at  no  dis- 
tant day  a  majestic  and  magnificent  mausoleum  may  enshrine 
the  sacred  remains  that  slumber  here,  so  that  not  only  those 
who  come  with  hearts  burdened  with  sorrow  for  their  dead, 
but  other  thousands,  may  assemble  here  to  listen  to  the 
teachings  of  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ? 

Maine  has  no  holier  place  than  Narantsouac;  no  greater 
son  than  Sebastian  Rasle,  who  won  that  title  by  shedding 
his  blood  to  give  the  Faith  to  the  first  possessors  of  this 
land,  and  who  offered  his  life  a  thousand  times  that  what- 
ever might  be  the  future  civilization  of  this  territory,  which 
is  now  a  splendid  commonwealth,  it  might  have  as  its  foun- 


RECONSECRATION,  RASLE  MONUMENT     275 

dation  those  divine  truths  on  which  depend  the  happiness  of 
its  people,  the  sanctity  of  its  households,  the  stability  of  its 
laws,  and  the  permanency  of  its  institutions.  The  name  of 
Sebastian  Rasle  should  be  written  in  letters  of  light  in  the 
history  of  Maine. 


Dedication  of  the  Ryan  Memorial 

St  Andrew's  Novitiate,  Poughkeepsie,  New  York,  November  19,  1907 

EWING  the  great  metropolis  and  ascending  the 
pathway  of  the  Hudson,  we  journey  between  long 
lines  of  mountains  which  keep  the  river  in  its 
course,  careless  whether  their  summits  are  crowned  with 
sunshine  or  winter  wraps  them  in  its  shroud.  Seventy  miles 
up  the  stream  there  towers  above  our  head  the  iron  scaf- 
folding which  modern  commerce  has  thrown  from  shore  to 
shore,  and  which  looks  as  if  a  gust  of  wind  from  the  hills 
would  some  day  fling  it  a  forgotten  thing  into  the  hills 
beyond.  Finally  we  reach  the  region  on  which  nature  has 
lavished  its  beauty,  where  the  river  winds  into  lakes  and 
the  receding  hills  reveal  the  luminous  peaks  of  the  Catskills 
far  away  to  the  north.  There,  at  the  gateway  of  this  mid- 
section  of  the  Hudson,  stands  an  imposing  structure  far 
out  upon  the  bank  as  if  to  challenge  the  attention  of  the 
passer-by. 

What  is  it?  we  are  often  asked.  If  the  inquirer  is  not 
of  the  Faith,  we  are  sometimes  at  a  loss  how  to  shape  an 
answer.  For  there  is  such  a  weird  superstition  connected 
with  the  name  Jesuit,  suggesting  as  it  does  suspicions  of 
dark  conspiracies  and  mysterious  machinations,  that  we  fear 
misunderstanding  if  we  call  it  at  first  by  its  proper  name 
of  the  Jesuit  Novitiate.  It  may  seem  strange  that  a  sup- 
posedly secret  organization  should  thus  thrust  its  house 
of  training  out  into  the  blaze  of  day  on  one  of  the  great 
highways  of  the  nation. 

I  recall  having  once  been  asked  about  the  Society,  and 
when  I  had  described  it  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  I  was 
waived  aside  with  disdain  as  knowing  nothing  about  the  sub- 


DEDICATION  OF  THE  RYAN  MEMORIAL     277 

ject.  Perhaps  I  might  have  been  accepted  as  an  authority 
had  I  been  able  to  state  that  I  was  just  then  on  my  way  to 
a  secret  meeting  of  the  Order  in  the  mountain  fastnesses  of 
Spain;  that  when  I  alighted  at  nightfall  from  the  narrow- 
gauge  railroad  which  stopped  at  the  little  town  of  Zuma- 
raga,  and  looked  around  in  the  gloom  and  the  pouring  rain 
for  a  guide,  a  brother  of  the  Order,  wrapped  in  his  Spanish 
cloak,  hustled  me  into  a  diligence,  and  we  dashed  up  the 
mountain  road  into  the  clouds  and  mist  that  enveloped  the 
lofty  peaks,  and  then,  descending  the  slope  on  the  other 
side,  I  saw  far  down  in  the  valley  below  the  glimmer  of 
lights  in  the  old  castle  of  Loyola,  where  the  delegates  from 
all  parts  of  the  world  had  been  summoned.  When  the 
coach  rumbled  up  to  the  door,  I  entered,  and,  presenting 
my  credentials  to  the  dark-browed  Superior,  found  myself 
in  the  midst  of  the  assembly.  All  that  would  have  been 
romantic  enough  to  make  me  an  accredited  witness,  but  I 
doubt  if  I  should  have  been  believed  if  I  added  that  during 
the  four  months  we  were  in  that  solitude,  laboring  unceas- 
ingly day  and  night,  there  were  no  mysteries,  no  dark  plots, 
no  conspiracies,  no  intrigues;  nothing  but  deliberations,  con- 
sultations, and  discussions,  and  frequent  prayer,  followed 
by  legislation  regarding  what  was  judged  conducive  to  the 
sanctification  of  all  the  members  of  the  Society. 

Hence,  by  way  of  prelude  to  a  further  explanation,  we 
might  tell  our  unprepared  inquirer  that  this  is  a  House  of 
Ecclesiastical  Studies.  Theology?  Yes.  The  contempla- 
tion of  God's  beauty  and  power  and  providence,  and  espe- 
cially His  absolute  and  inalienable  dominion  over  His  crea- 
tures. Philosophy  also;  the  profoundest  and  safest  psy- 
chology: the  study  of  the  existence  of  the  human  soul;  its 
origin,  its  powers,  its  destiny,  its  union  with  the  body,  the 
emotions  that  stir  it,  the  storms  that  sweep  over  it,  the 
temptations  that  sway  it.  Nor  is  it  merely  a  theoretical 
study,  but  the  concrete  and  personal  experience  of  how  the 


278  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

passions  are  controlled,  the  senses  mortified,  earthly  goods 
relinquished,  the  perfection  of  purity  attained,  self-will 
abandoned,  even  judgment  set  aside;  in  a  word,  it  is  one 
uninterrupted  effort,  daring  as  it  may  seem,  to  develop  a 
character  which  shall  flash  forth  resemblances,  as  far  as 
divine  grace  will  permit,  to  that  of  Christ  Himself;  not 
sporadically  or  at  intervals,  but  as  the  result  of  habits  which 
are  made  deep  and  enduring;  and  finally,  when  the  term  is 
reached,  and  the  aspirant  sees  before  him  still  loftier 
heights  of  virtue,  of  which  all  that  he  has  done  is  only  a 
preparation,  sacred  vows  are  pronounced  which  determine 
irrevocably  the  pathway  to  be  followed  for  life. 

To  that  everything  in  this  house  tends.  It  is  inculcated 
in  every  book  that  is  read,  in  every  instruction  that  is  given, 
in  every  exercise  that  is  performed,  in  every  mortification 
that  is  practised,  in  every  prayer  that  is  said.  It  is  imaged 
forth  in  those  glorious  realizations  of  the  ideals  of  domestic 
saints,  beginning  with  the  novice  Stanislaus,  who  with  boy- 
ish delight  flung  aside  his  earthly  honors  to  prepare  for  the 
vows  which  he  pronounced  only  in  heaven.  Continuing 
through  the  long  line  of  confessors  and  martyrs  whom  the 
Society  has  given  to  the  Church,  brothers,  scholastics,  and 
priests,  it  receives  a  final  indorsement  and  example  in  the 
Adorable  Sacrament,  which  is  the  ultimate  expression  of 
Christ's  self-effacement  and  the  means  that  makes  possible 
what  would  otherwise  be  beyond  the  competency  of  human 
nature  to  achieve. 

It  is  the  supreme  importance  of  this  last  and  main  source 
of  the  spiritual  life  which  is  expressly  proclaimed  and  em- 
phasized to-day.  A  munificence  prompted  and  actuated  by 
a  profound,  far-reaching,  and  ardent  love  for  the  Blessed 
Sacrament  has  with  royal  prodigality  built,  completed, 
adorned,  and  encompassed  with  magnificence,  and  finally 
caused  to  be  consecrated,  this  Eucharistic  Throne  of  the 
King  of  Kings.  From  this  sanctuary  there  are  to  issue,  in 


DEDICATION  OF  THE  RYAN  MEMORIAL     279 

infinite  abundance  and  efficacy,  the  streams  of  divine  life 
upon  her  who  has  founded  it,  upon  this  community,  upon 
the  Church,  and  upon  the  world  at  large.  Here  for  all 
time  the  adorers  who  kneel  before  the  tabernacle  will  not 
only  endeavor  to  repay  some  little  tithe  of  the  sacred  obli- 
gations of  prayer  and  intercession  for  the  bounteous  giver 
and  those  who  are  dear  to  her,  but,  because  of  the  splendid 
example  of  love  for  Jesus  Christ,  will  have  their  own  souls 
quickened  into  a  more  acute  attention  to  the  voice  behind 
the  sacramental  veils,  and  will  go  forth  with  a  spirit  of 
more  heroic  self-sacrifice  and  with  greater  strength  to  teach 
the  world  the  lessons  they  have  learned  in  this  holy  place. 

All  this  may  seem  like  mysticism,  medievalism,  monas- 
ticism,  extravagant  poetry,  and  the  like,  but  of  what  use  is 
it?  How  will  it  affect  the  man  in  the  street?  How  will 
it  influence  the  grimy  engineer  who  leans  out  of  his  cab 
and  wonders  what  those  people  are  doing  on  the  hill?  Of 
what  import  is  it  to  the  thousands  that  hurry  by  in  steamers 
or  trains,  bent  on  business  or  politics  or  pleasure;  or  to 
those  hustling  throngs  in  the  thoroughfares  of  the  great 
metropolis,  or  to  the  men  of  the  stock  exchange,  or  to  the 
workers  in  the  sweatshops  and  factories  or  along  shore; 
or  to  the  swarming  myriads  in  the  slums,  or  the  merchant, 
or  the  man  of  science,  or  the  clubs,  or  the  unions  of  working- 
men,  or  the  churchless  millions  around  you? 

How  will  it  affect  them?  Why,  there  could  not  be  a 
better  instrument  devised  to  check  the  disintegrating  ele- 
ments at  work  on  society  and  to  save  it  from  absolute  ruin. 

Even  the  most  optimistic  among  us  will  admit  that  we 
are  living  in  times  that  are  characterized  by  a  widespread 
disrespect  for  authority  and  contempt  of  law,  even  in  the 
youngest.  The  wrecks  of  the  holiest  institutions  in  civil, 
domestic,  religious,  and  national  life  strew  the  shores  of 
the  world.  In  every  country  great  political  forces  are  gath- 
ering, whose  avowed  purpose  is  to  sweep  away  the  old  order 


28o  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

of  things,  careless  of  what  may  come  after.  Strife  between 
the  different  classes  of  society  is  kept  under  by  armed  force, 
governments  dare  not  interfere  with  the  red  flag  which  sys- 
tematized anarchy  flaunts  in  the  public  thoroughfares  with 
the  motto,  "  No  God  and  no  master,"  and  under  whose 
threats  two  great  nations  are  reeling.  Nay,  in  some  coun- 
tries the  very  representatives  of  law  bid  the  soldiers  trample 
on  the  flag  and  shoot  the  officers  who  summon  them  to 
battle;  kings  and  emperors  and  even  presidents  dare  not 
stir  abroad  except  between  lines  of  bayonets,  and  assassi- 
nation is  fast  growing  to  be  the  way  in  which  rulers  end 
their  lives,  not  because  they  are  personally  obnoxious,  but 
because  they  represent  constitutional  stability  and  the  na- 
tion's existence. 

Is  it  not  therefore  opportune  that  against  these  ever- 
increasing  armies  of  disorder  there  should  be  formed  an- 
other army  of  young,  enthusiastic,  and  devoted  men,  who 
not  only  observe  every  law  both  human  and  divine,  but  who 
have  of  their  own  accord  assumed  greater  and  harder  obli- 
gations, and  who  regard  even  the  minutest  regulations  of 
their  way  of  life  as  sacred;  who  have  the  profoundest  ven- 
eration for  authority  no  matter  by  whom  it  is  represented; 
who  have  flung  away  every  earthly  incumbrance  so  as  to  be 
freer  in  the  fight,  and  who  have  bound  themselves  by  a 
more  sacred  oath  than  a  soldier  ever  made  to  a  flag,  to 
persevere  in  the  combat,  no  matter  what  may  come,  until 
death  shall  have  brought  the  victory? 

The  oldest  of  us  remember  how  the  first  great  Arch- 
bishop of  New  York  in  the  disorders  incident  to  the  Civil 
War  dared  to  bid  the  mob  disperse,  and  it  obeyed;  how  in 
some  parts  of  the  city  priests  strode  into  the  midst  of  the 
infuriated  multitudes  who  were  armed  with  rifles  and  knives 
and  clubs,  and  implored  them  to  desist ;  and  how  one  vener- 
able minister  of  the  altar  was  stretched  in  his  gore  upon 
the  pavement.  But  we  remember  too  how  in  Paris  in  more 


DEDICATION  OF  THE  RYAN  MEMORIAL     281 

recent  years  a  long  line  of  illustrious  victims,  the  Arch- 
bishop himself  and  priests  and  religious  and  conspicuous 
representatives  of  civil  and  judicial  life,  were  ranged  along 
the  dead  wall  of  a  garden  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city  and 
riddled  with  bullets,  and  in  derision  were  then  cast  into  a 
cesspool.  Now  there  is  a  traceable  genesis  in  all  these  dis- 
orders, and  we  know  that  such  things  may  occur  again  in  a 
more  aggravated  form.  If  so,  who  are  to  stand  before 
these  multitudes?  Why,  the  whole  world  answers,  the 
Catholic  priests;  and  in  the  foremost  ranks  will  be  those 
who  have  especially  bound  themselves  to  obedience,  and  by 
them  death  in  such  a  cause  will  be  hailed  with  delight,  as  by 
soldiers  who  fall  fighting  for  a  flag.  And  even  if  this  bloody 
affirmation  of  the  love  of  order  may  not  be  demanded,  there 
is  one  thing  that  is  on  all  occasions  to  be  proclaimed,  and 
especially  at  the  present  time,  whether  its  preacher  enforces 
it  with  the  mob,  or  expounds  it  in  the  pulpit,  or  explains  it 
in  the  classroom;  whether  speaking  to  the  old  or  the  young, 
to  the  rich  or  the  poor,  to  the  learned  or.  the  ignorant,  there 
is  one  lesson  which  the  world  must  learn  again,  for  it  has 
absolutely  forgotten  the  lesson,  that  there  can  be  no  peace, 
no  law,  no  order,  except  by  obedience  to  all  who  are  above 
us  in  Church  and  State,  in  the  home,  in  business,  in  the 
school,  simply  because  Jesus  Christ  conquered  the  world 
by  His  obedience,  even  though  it  brought  Him  to  the  death 
of  the  cross.  To  train  men  for  that  work  is  for  what  this 
house  is  intended. 

Apart  from  this  anarchical  condition,  luxury,  idleness,  ex- 
travagance, and  a  mad  pursuit  of  pleasure  have  left  their 
marks  or  their  scars  upon  the  face  of  the  century.  The 
unprecedented  accumulation  of  wealth,  the  marvellous 
achievements  of  commerce,  the  almost  preternatural  in- 
genuity of  mechanical  devices,  have  almost  transformed  the 
condition  of  the  world,  so  that  even  the  poorest  are  in  pos- 
session of  material  advantages  which  only  the  very  rich 


282  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

formerly  enjoyed.  In  fact,  when  we  look  around  in  this 
house  and  contrast  its  conveniences  and  comforts  with  the 
rough  and  hard  surroundings  in  which  the  older  generations 
of  novices  lived  in  Canada,  West  Park,  or  Frederick  in 
the  early  days,  we  cannot  help  asking  if  the  material  ad- 
vantages which  have  admittedly  weakened  the  physical,  in- 
tellectual, and  moral  fibre  of  the  world  outside,  will  have 
a  corresponding  effect  in  religious  houses?  Will  the  So- 
ciety adjust  itself  to  modern  requirements?  Can  we  con- 
ceive it?  The  greatest  men  it  has  had,  many  of  them  from 
the  palaces  of  princes,  have  always  sought  in  their  personal 
surroundings  and  in  the  employment  in  which  they  were 
engaged  what  was  hardest  and  humblest  and  poorest  and 
most  abhorrent  to  nature.  Aiming  always  at  brilliancy  of 
success  in  every  pursuit,  scientific,  literary,  philosophical,  or 
theological,  not  out  of  personal  ambition,  but  because  of 
their  motto,  Ad  majorem  Dei  gloriam,  they  were,  never- 
theless, invariably  to  be  found,  whenever  possible,  among 
the  poor,  the  ignorant,  the  abandoned,  the  debased;  in 
hovels  and  prisons  and  hospitals,  or  hastening  with  delight 
to  the  aid  of  the  infected,  and  happy  when  they  paid  for 
their  temerity  with  their  life.  Beginning  with  Ignatius  him- 
self, whose  predilections  always  tended  in  that  direction, 
taken  up  by  Laynez  and  Salmeron,  who  were  found  in  the 
hospital  between  the  sessions  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  which 
they  illumined  with  the  splendor  of  their  learning,  the  tra- 
dition, continued  through  the  centuries,  was  maintained 
everywhere,  and  in  no  other  place  better  than  in  our  own 
New  York,  where  for  years  there  was  a  holy  emulation  for 
that  kind  of  work,  and  where  in  the  days  when  medicine  had 
not  adopted  the  modern  precautions,  many  of  the  best  we 
had  succumbed  to  the  hardship  of  the  work  or  to  the  diseases 
they  contracted  in  the  pest  houses  of  the  Island.  That  spirit 
cannot  lapse  at  the  present  time.  To  lose  it  would  be  to 
fail  in  one  of  the  essentials  of  the  spiritual  life;  and  recur- 


DEDICATION  OF  THE  RYAN  MEMORIAL     283 

ring  to  what  has  been  said  about  the  chaotic  state  of  so- 
ciety, no  man  can  hope  to  lift  up  the  submerged  classes 
or  control  them  when  they  are  roused  to  fury,  except  he 
is  one  of  themselves  in  affection  at  least,  and  has  lived  a 
life  of  personal  poverty  and  self-denial. 

But,  over  and  above  all  this,  there  is  another  condition, 
which  is  perhaps  the  root  and  source  of  all  the  rest  and  is 
the  greatest  peril  of  the  present  time.  With  it  this  house  is 
especially  intended  to  cope. 

Dazzled  by  its  own  magnificence,  the  world  has  lost  its 
head.  The  discoveries  of  science  have  invested  it  with  a 
splendor  of  which  past  centuries  had  no  conception,  and  be- 
stowed upon  it  powers  of  whose  possibilities  there  seems  to 
be  no  limit.  We  not  only  traverse  the  wide  ocean  in  pal- 
aces, but  speed  through  its  depths  with  absolute  safety  and 
precision;  we  are  borne  through  the  bases  of  mountains  on 
the  wings  of  the  lightning,  and  are  soon  to  make  a  conquest 
of  the  air;  we  no  longer  need  wires  to  flash  our  thoughts  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth,  but  the  atmospheric  current  above  our 
heads  repeats  our  words;  through  boundless  space  a  touch 
of  our  finger  makes  great  cities  glow  with  light,  and  throb 
with  power  that  drives  the  wheels  of  the  mighty  industries 
that  commerce  has  inaugurated;  the  harmonies  of  countless 
instruments  come  to  our  ears  from  thousands  of  miles  away; 
and  we  hear  the  voices  of  those  that  are  long  since  dead. 
Science  bids  us  contemplate  the  material  constructions  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Mars,  and  we  are  promised  communication 
with  the  people  of  other  planets;  the  tiniest  atoms  are  re- 
vealing powers  that  sweep  aside  what  were  thought  to  be 
the  laws  of  nature,  and  the  miracles  of  the  Gospels  are  said 
to  have  astonished  only  because  of  the  ignorance  that  pre- 
vailed; the  origin  of  life  is  said  to  have  been  reached,  and 
the  human  soul  discovered  and  weighed;  and  prophecies  are 
heard  of  other  greater  miracles  yet  to  be  revealed.  The 
world  is  delirious  with  delight,  and  the  cry  has  gone  forth 


284  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

from  the  toiler  in  the  sweatshop  to  the  professor  in  his 
laboratory  that  there  is  no  longer  any  spirit,  that  there  is 
no  longer  any  God;  that  the  great  material  universe,  of 
which  we  are  a  part,  alone  merits  our  adoration,  and  the 
supernatural  must  be  relegated  to  the  realms  of  ignorance 
and  superstition. 

Not  only  has  this  revolution  been  wrought  in  the  world 
of  science,  but  the  religious  bodies  outside  of  the  Church 
are  every  day  denying  the  most  fundamental  doctrines  of 
Christianity;  the  Bible  is  a  closed  book,  two  thirds  of  our 
people  rarely  enter  a  church  and  have  no  religious  affilia- 
tion, and  to  the  few  that  gather  around  the  pulpit  often  only 
the  doctrines  of  materialism  and  naturalism  are  taught. 

But  why  speak  only  of  those  outside  the  Catholic  Church? 
Was  not  the  last  utterance  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  like  a 
wail  of  agony,  deploring  the  teachings  of  those  who  still 
claim  to  be  Catholic  priests  and  professors  of  sacred  sub- 
jects, whose  persistent  clamor  alone  makes  them  conspicu- 
ous, and  who  in  almost  every  nation  of  Christendom  deny 
all  belief  in  the  supernatural;  who  sweep  away  the  Sacra- 
ment, the  divine  institution  of  the  Church,  the  inspiration 
of  the  Holy  Scripture,  and  even  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ 
Himself;  and  who  have  chosen  for  their  treachery  the  very 
moment  when  in  what  was  once  a  great  Catholic  country  the 
temples  of  God  are  violated,  Christianity  trodden  under- 
foot, and  those  who  had  devoted  themselves  to  the  higher 
spiritual  life  are  driven  out  as  criminals  on  the  highways 
of  the  world. 

Was  there  ever  a  time  when  the  supernatural  needed 
more  to  be  emphasized  in  its  highest,  noblest,  and  sub- 
limest  expression?  Surely  not,  and  for  that  has  this  great 
establishment  been  erected.  The  laboring  man  who  laid  its 
foundations  was  aware  that  such  was  its  purpose;  the  two 
devoted  Catholics,  the  architect  and  the  builder,  both  of 
whom  died  before  the  work  was  completed,  would  turn  in 


DEDICATION  OF  THE  RYAN  MEMORIAL     285 

their  graves  if  this  house  failed  to  fulfil  the  aim  for  which 
it  was  projected  and  in  which  they  were  only  too  happy  to 
co-operate.  The  more  than  generous  benefactress,  who 
with  such  lavish  hand  has  built  and  adorned  this  abiding 
place  of  the  Spirit  will  require  from  this  house,  and  justly 
so,  a  mighty  concurrence  in  the  work  to  which  her  life  is 
devoted  in  spreading  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  il- 
lustrious prelate  who  is  bound  to  the  Society  by  personal 
and  family  affection,  and  who  could  not  dream  of  not  shar- 
ing the  happiness  of  to-day,  has  an  inalienable  right  to  look 
to  this  centre  of  the  supernatural  for  assistance  in  develop- 
ing the  spiritual  life  of  the  vast  diocese  which  God  has  in- 
trusted to  his  care.  The  whole  hierarchy  of  the  country, 
whose  churches  to  such  a  large  extent  have  been  made  pos- 
sible by  the  labors  and  the  blood  of  the  early  Jesuit  saints 
and  martyrs,  must  draw  their  conclusions  from  the  past  and 
demand  it.  The  Society  would  denounce  as  recreancy  to  all 
its  great  history  any  failure  to  reach  that  ideal;  and  the 
Church  itself,  which  has  glorified  the  So'ciety  of  Jesus  with 
so  many  privileges  and  intrusted  to  it  so  many  gigantic 
works,  would  visit  with  its  condemnation  the  poisoning  at  its 
very  source  of  the  current  which  is  intended  to  pour  such  a 
superabounding  torrent  of  life  on  the  nation  and  the  world. 
Besides  all  this,  there  is  a  special  reason  why  the  super- 
natural life  should  be  developed  here  to  an  unusual  degree. 
Out  there  in  the  river,  on  the  deck  of  a  little  bark,  knelt 
the  ragged  and  gaunt  and  haggard  Isaac  Jogues,  lifting  his 
fingerless  hands  to  heaven  in  prayer.  Possibly  his  eyes  rested 
upon  this  very  place,  and  it  may  be  that  he  saw  in  vision 
what  was  to  be,  and  his  thoughts  went  back  to  the  days  when 
he,  a  boy  as  young  as  any  here,  knocked  at  the  door  of  the 
novitiate  and  asked  for  the  missions  of  Africa  and  martyr- 
dom, and  heard  the  prophecy:  Not  in  Africa,  but  in  Amer- 
ica you  will  die.  Down  that  river  also  passed  a  greater 
sufferer  even  than  Jogues,  though  not  a  martyr,  the  glorious 


286  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

Bressani,  who  went  again  and  again  into  the  midst  of  the 
enemies  in  quest  of  a  martyr's  death.  Le  Moyne  was  also 
there,  the  light-hearted  hero  who  descended  five  times 
among  the  Iroquois,  each  time,  as  a  Protestant  eulogist  says, 
taking  his  life  in  his  hands.  All  three  were  companions  of 
Brebeuf  and  Lallemant  and  Gamier  and  Daniel  and  Cha- 
banel  in  distant  Huronia,  and  had  shared  the  dangers  of 
the  fire  and  the  tomahawk,  and  pestilence  and  starvation, 
and  two  of  them  had  kissed  the  charred  and  mangled  re- 
mains of  the  martyrs  when  recovered  from  the  bloody  hands 
of  the  savage.  Others  passed  here  also,  and  not  far  from 
where  the  Mohawk  pours  its  waters  in  the  Hudson  the  early 
missionaries  toiled  in  the  filth  and  squalor  of  the  Indian 
wigwams;  made  their  bed  in  the  snow  drift,  or  left  the  tracks 
of  their  mangled  feet  on  the  ice-bound  river;  felt  the  pangs 
of  starvation,  and  saw  the  tomahawk  frequently  above  their 
heads.  Their  mission  was  called  The  Mission  of  the  Mar- 
tyrs. Is  there  any  reason  why  this  novitiate  should  not  be 
called  The  Cradle  of  the  Martyrs,  that  from  it  a  constant 
line  of  missionaries  and  saints  and  even  martyrs  should  not 
only  go  forth  to  labor  at  the  posts  near  at  hand,  but  in  every 
part  of  the  habitable  world?  Is  there  any  reason  why  it 
should  not  reproduce  the  glories  of  St.  Omer's  and  Valla- 
dolid  and  Rouen  and  of  those  countless  other  houses  which 
have  done  so  much  for  the  advancement  of  the  faith  and 
the  glory  of  God?  If  not,  then  tear  it  down,  and  fling  it 
into  the  river,  and  make  it  an  asylum  or  a  barracks  or  a 
hospital,  or  give  it  to  the  institution  alongside. 

But,  no !  It  will  be  true  to  its  trust.  Everything  in  it  and 
around  it  proclaims  its  mission.  The  first  rays  of  the  morn- 
ing sun  illumine  the  chapel  where  around  the  altar  the  com- 
munity is  kneeling  for  instruction  and  strength  for  these 
very  deeds;  the  mighty  arms  of  the  edifice  stretch  to  the 
north  and  south  in  benediction,  and  as  it  faces  the  mountains 
on  the  west  it  is  contemplating  the  eternal  hills  towards 


DEDICATION  OF  THE  RYAN  MEMORIAL     287 

which  all  are  tending.  Here  are  to  be  fashioned  men  who, 
like  St.  Paul,  can  cry  out :  "  Who  will  separate  us  from  the 
love  of  Christ?  Shall  tribulation,  or  distress,  or  famine, 
or  nakedness,  or  persecution,  or  the  sword?  I  am  sure 
that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities, 
nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to  come,  nor 
might,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature  shall 
be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in 
Christ  Jesus  Our  Lord."  Men,  in  a  word,  who  realize 
that  sublime  picture  that  is  placed  in  the  Book  of  the  Insti- 
tute; men  crucified  to  the  world,  and  to  whom  the  world  is 
crucified;  new  men  who  have  put  off  their  own  will  to  put 
on  Christ,  who  are  dead  to  themselves  that  they  may  live  to 
justice,  who,  as  the  divine  Paul  has  said,  in  labors,  in  fast- 
ings, in  vigils,  in  chastity,  in  science,  in  longanimity,  in  sweet- 
ness, in  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  charity  unfeigned,  in  the  word 
of  truth,  show  themselves  to  be  ministers  of  God,  and  by 
the  arms  of  justice  on  the  right  hand  and  the  left,  through 
glory  and  dishonor,  through  good  report  and  evil  report, 
through  prosperity  and  adversity,  go  forward  with  great 
strides  to  the  heavenly  country,  and  compel  others  by  what- 
ever means  they  may  to  tend  thither  with  them,  with  their 
eyes  ever  set  on  the  greatest  glory  of  God. 


Dedication  of  the  Church  of  Our  Lady 

of  Mercy 

Brooklyn,  New  York,  February  12,  1908 

TO— DAY  the  nation  recalls  the  memory  of  a  man 
who  by  a  single  act  struck  the  fetters  from  the 
limbs  of  three  million  slaves.  It  matters  not 
whether  he  was  prompted  by  pity  for  the  sufferers,  or  was 
furthering  a  great  political  movement,  or  resorting  to  a 
desperate  war  measure  in  a  crisis  that  came  so  near  being 
the  tragedy  of  the  Republic;  nor  whether  the  policy  was 
prudent  at  the  time,  as  the  execution  might  have  precipitated 
other  States  of  the  Union  into  rebellion;  nor  whether  the 
consequences  have  been  such  as  were  anticipated.  All  that 
is  lost  sight  of  to-day,  and  Lincoln  stands  before  the  world 
as  the  Liberator  of  a  race;  statues  are  erected  in  his  honor, 
and  the  entire  nation  puts  all  other  thoughts  aside  and  ex- 
tols with  an  exuberance  of  joy  the  greatness  of  its  hero. 

What  is  the  reason  of  this  enthusiasm?  Because  human 
nature  loves  liberty.  Liberty  is  its  prerogative  and  its 
birthright.  Its  possession  is  a  distinction  and  a  glory;  and 
its  loss  a  calamity  and  a  degradation.  Whoever  gives  it, 
whoever  protects  it,  whoever  augments  it,  no  matter  for 
what  motive  or  in  what  measure,  will  always  be  loved  and 
glorified  by  his  fellow-men. 

Properly  is  the  elimination  of  slavery  from  this  nation 
a  cause  of  exultation,  but  the  splendor  of  the  achievement 
pales  into  insignificance  before  the  event  which  this  church 
commemorates.  For  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  title 
of  Our  Lady  of  Mercy  which  it  bears  is  more  properly  Our 
Lady  of  Ransom,  or,  if  you  will,  Our  Lady  of  Mercy  for 


CHURCH  OF  OUR  LADY  OF  MERCY  289 

the  Redemption  of  Captives;  and  it  recalls  an  emancipa- 
tion proclamation  which  not  only  antedates  the  liberation 
of  our  American  slaves,  but  precedes  the  discovery  of  the 
American  continent.  It  brings  us  back  to  the  times  when 
the  fanatical  hordes  of  Arabs  and  Moors  and  Turks  were 
hurling  themselves  against  the  embattled  forces  of  Chris- 
tianity to  lay  waste  the  nations  of  Europe  and  subject  them 
to  the  same  slavery  which  they  had  already  fastened  on  a 
large  part  of  Asia  and  Africa.  They  had  captured  Con- 
stantinople and  were  battering  at  the  gates  of  Hungary  and 
Transylvania;  they  had  conquered  nearly  all  of  Spain  and 
had  attempted  to  pass  the  defiles  of  the  mountains  into 
France,  and,  worst  of  all,  their  swift  galleys  were  scouring 
the  unprotected  coasts  of  Italy  and  France  and  the  regions 
of  the  East,  swooping  down  upon  unprotected  towns  and 
villages  and  carrying  off  thousands  of  helpless  men  and 
women  and  children  from  the  castle  as  well  as  from  the 
cabin  into  a  slavery  which  meant  not  only  the  scourge  or  the 
dungeon,  but  something  inexpressibly  worse  in  the  degra- 
dation to  which  the  women  were  subjected  and  the  apostasy 
in  which  Christian  boys  were  brought  up  to  be  Janizaries 
to  destroy  the  people  whose  blood  was  in  their  veins.  The 
most  formidable  power  in  the  hands  of  the  Moslems  were 
these  fanatical  soldiers  who  had  been  trained  in  the  bitterest 
hatred  of  Christianity. 

In  this  terrible  conjuncture  it  was  heroic  Spain  that  came 
to  the  rescue.  Spain,  that  had  been  standing  for  centuries 
like  a  wall  of  iron  in  its  mountain  passes  in  its  fight  for  the 
liberty  of  Europe  and  of  the  world,  not  only  continued  to 
supply  warriors  who  willingly  died  on  the  battlefield,  but 
conceived  something  more  heroic  still. 

Under  the  shadow  of  the  great  cluster  of  the  peaks  of 
Montserrat,  which  leap  into  the  clear  sky  and  look  out  upon 
the  blue  Mediterranean,  which  was  covered  by  Moorish  cor- 
sairs, stood  three  glorious  men  whose  greatness  should 


290  VARIOUS   DISCOURSES 

never  be  forgotten:  St.  Peter  Nolasco,  whom  the  Church 
represents  on  her  altars  carrying  in  his  hands  the  broken 
shackles  of  the  slave;  the  other  the  great  Dominican,  St. 
Raymond  of  Pennafort,  equally  splendid  in  the  holiness 
with  which  he  was  invested;  and  the  third  one,  in  royal 
robes,  King  James  of  Aragon,  who  had  fought  on  many  a 
bloody  field  against  the  enemies  of  the  faith.  Above  them 
shone  the  radiant  figure  of  the  Blessed  Mother  of  the  Re- 
deemer, bidding  them  go  forth  and  summon  an  army  that 
would  dare  to  descend  into  the  very  midst  of  the  enemy,  not 
with  dripping  swords,  but  with  hands  filled  with  gold  to  ran- 
som the  unhappy  captives  who  were  chained  in  dungeons 
or  toiling  in  the  galleys,  or  perhaps  buried  in  the  depths  of 
Mohammedan  vice.  They  were  to  purchase  them  at  any 
price,  or  if  that  were  not  possible  take  their  place  in  slav- 
ery, put  on  their  chains,  and  accept,  if  need  be,  torture  and 
death;  nay,  bind  themselves  by  solemn  vow  to  the  act,  so 
that  to  shrink  from  the  awful  sacrifice  would  not  only  be 
sin  but  sacrilege. 

Can  you  find  a  parallel  in  human  history  with  this  sub- 
lime immolation?  The  soldier  who  dies  for  his  country 
goes  gayly  to  death  amid  the  blare  of  trumpets,  the  waving 
of  banners,  and  the  loud  huzzahs  of  his  frenzied  comrades. 
He  is  almost  unconscious  of  what  he  is  doing,  and  is  lifted 
out  of  himself  by  the  fury  of  the  combat;  but  to  advance 
calmly  to  a  hideous  death  when  no  one  is  contemplating  the 
deed,  to  silently  enter  a  dungeon  where  years  of  torture 
may  be  a  prelude  to  death,  to  do  battle  all  alone  and  to  die 
and  perhaps  be  forgotten  even  by  those  he  ransomed,  that 
is  heroism  which  only  the  Spirit  of  God  can  help  a  man  to 
achieve. 

The  Order  of  Our  Lady  of  Ransom  was  founded;  multi- 
tudes joined  its  ranks  from  every  nation  of  Europe,  and 
with  the  cross  of  Christ  blazing  on  their  mantles,  they  pre- 
sented themselves  before  the  Moorish  citadels  and  pur- 


CHURCH  OF  OUR  LADY  OF  MERCY  291 

chased  by  their  money  or  their  blood  the  thousands  who 
were  languishing  in  chains,  or  were  doomed  to  a  miserable 
death,  or  to  be  lost  forever  by  the  sacrifice  of  their  souls. 

This  awful  contest  continued  for  long  years  between  the 
contending  armies.  Step  by  step  the  invaders  were  driven 
back  until  the  glorious  day  arrived  when  the  victorious  fleet 
of  Pope  Pius  V  met  the  squadron  of  the  Turks  at  Lepanto, 
shattered  it  to  pieces,  and  saved  the  world  from  slavery. 
But  can  we  doubt  that  the  calm  and  determined  heroism  of 
the  Knights  of  Our  Lady  of  Ransom  inspired  with  greater 
heroism  the  men  who  fought  behind  the  battlements  or  on 
the  decks  of  the  fleets  and  enabled  them  to  hasten  the  day 
of  victory;  or,  better  yet,  that  this  great  love  for  humanity 
pleaded  efficaciously  with  the  God  of  Mercy  to  stay  the 
work  of  destruction?  Nay;  looking  at  it  in  a  purely  human 
point  of  view,  it  was  the  Redemptioners  who  in  reality 
routed  the  foe.  For  the  power  of  the  Moslems  waned 
when  they  no  longer  had  their  apostate  Janizaries  to  send 
into  the  field,  and  the  supply  of  Janizaries  failed  when  there 
were  no  more  Christian  slaves. 

But  what  has  all  that  to  do  with  us?  There  is  no  slavery 
now.  Not  indeed  the  slavery  that  Lincoln  eliminated  from 
the  country  or  that  the  saints  of  olden  times  gave  their  lives 
to  destroy,  but  another  just  as  real.  For  anyone  who  has 
eyes  to  see  must  notice  a  deliberate  and  organized  descent 
into  degraded  material,  moral,  and  intellectual  conditions 
which  keeps  pace  with  and  prompts  a  bitter  animosity  and 
antagonism  to  Christ,  and  is  full  of  menace  to  the  whole 
structure  of  Christian  civilization.  "  There  can  be  no  ques- 
tion whatever,"  says  the  great  Pontiff  Leo  XIII,  "  that  some 
remedy  must  be  found,  and  found  quickly,  for  the  misery 
and  wretchedness  which  press  so  heavily  at  this  moment  on 
the  large  majority  of  the  very  poor.  They  have  been  given 
over  isolated  and  defenceless  to  the  callousness  of  employ- 
ers, the  greed  of  competition  and  rapacious  usury,  to  the 


292  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

extent  that  a  number  of  very  rich  men  have  been  able  to  lay 
upon  the  masses  a  yoke  little  better  than  slavery  itself." 

Millions  of  human  creatures,  says  Cardinal  Vaughan,  are 
housed  worse  than  the  cattle  and  horses  of  many  a  lord  and 
squire.  In  the  annual  death  rate  throughout  England,  one 
death  in  every  fourteen  is  that  of  a  pauper  in  the  workhouse, 
and  the  conditions  are  infinitely  worse  in  the  great  centres 
of  industry.  Just  as  the  old  Moslems  swept  the  lands  and 
the  seas  to  increase  the  number  of  their  slaves  and  kept  them 
in  degradation  near  their  splendid  cities  only  by  the  ever- 
uplifted  sword,  so  does  our  modern  Mohammedanism  of 
business  gather  in  the  grimy  and  fetid  slums  of  the  great 
centres  of  commerce,  where  wealth  most  abounds,  helpless 
and  hopeless  and  often  godless  multitudes  who  are  seething 
with  rebellion  and  anarchy  which  can  only  be  repressed  by 
the  bullet  or  the  sabre,  unless  Christianity  is  there  to  stay 
the  work  of  destruction. 

It  may  be  true  that  the  evil  is  not  as  alarming  in  our 
country  as  elsewhere,  but  is  there  not  enough  before  our 
eyes  to  arouse  the  old  crusading  spirit  of  Our  Lady  of  Ran- 
som? Poverty  we  can  never  abolish,  nor  need  we  try.  It 
is  the  mark  and  glory  of  Christianity,  and  Christ  has  de- 
clared it  to  be  a  beatitude.  But  pauperism  as  it  now  pre- 
sents itself  in  the  world  is  not  poverty.  It  was  never  known 
in  Catholic  times,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  we  Catholics 
should  leave  a  single  one  of  our  own  in  that  degraded  and 
dangerous  destitution  which  the  great  Cardinal  and  greater 
Pontiff  so  feelingly  deplored. 

What  are  our  Sodalities  for?  Their  work  is  not  merely 
to  recite  prayers.  What  is  our  League  of  the  Sacred  Heart 
for?  Not  merely  for  the  morning  offering.  What  are  our 
St.  Vincent  of  Paul  Societies  for?  Their  ranks  are  not  to 
be  made  up  merely  of  old  men,  admirable  and  splendid 
though  their  work  may  be,  but  every  young  man  and  every 
young  woman  in  every  Catholic  parish  should  find  it  a  par- 


CHURCH   OF  OUR  LADY   OF  MERCY     293 

ticular  joy  to  enter  with  enthusiasm  upon  the  work  of  re- 
deeming the  captives  of  poverty  and  preventing  among  our- 
selves the  disasters  of  which  the  Supreme  Pontiff  warns  the 
world.  We  are  not  rich,  but  God  is;  and  as  of  old,  if  we 
set  to  work,  our  hands  will  teem  with  treasures,  and,  like 
the  three  saints  of  old  under  the  guidance  of  the  Queen  of 
Heaven,  who  is  especially  our  patron,  we  can  redeem  mil- 
lions of  captives  and  lead  them  back  to  the  liberty  of  the 
children  of  God  and  the  light  of  our  faith. 

Again,  one  of  the  characteristics  of  that  old  Moham- 
medan slavery  was  immorality  and  the  corruption  of  inno- 
cent youth.  Is  there  not  a  horrible  repetition  of  that  same 
corruption  going  on  around  us,  and  does  not  the  question 
force  itself  upon  us:  what  means  are  we  going  to  resort 
to,  socially,  financially,  and  even  politically,  to  check  the 
canker  that  is  eating  out  the  heart  especially  of  the  rising 
generations?  Is  there  not  work  there  for  a  crusade? 

So  in  the  intellectual  world.  In  former  times  the  name 
unbeliever  was  given  in  contumely  and  as  a  reproach  only 
to  the  Moslem  and  the  Turk.  Now  that  is  all  changed,  and 
it  is  the  Moslem  and  the  Turk,  namely  the  unbeliever,  who 
rules  the  intellectual  world  to-day.  Only  the  unbeliever  is 
credited  with  being  scientific  and  learned  and  intellectual, 
while  the  man  who  believes  is  scoffed  at  as  ignorant,  blind, 
and  superstitious.  Not  only  is  there  a  wholesale  apostasy 
from  Christianity,  but  its  doctrines  are  reviled  in  private  con- 
versations, in  public  discourses,  in  the  press,  in  the  learned 
reviews,  in  great  universities,  nay,  even  in  the  pulpit  itself. 
Its  teachings  are  declared  to  be  forever  exploded,  and  so 
intense  and  bitter  and  powerful  is  the  hatred  that  prevails 
against  it  that  even  in  the  most  conservative  nations  it  is 
impossible  to  give  a  Christian  education  to-day  to  the  most 
abandoned  children  of  the  slums,  although  they  may  be 
and  are  growing  up  in  immorality  and  becoming  a  menace 
to  the  very  existence  of  the  State.  Indeed,  in  two  notable 


294  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

instances,  in  countries  which  once  gloried  in  being  the  centre 
of  Christianity,  every  Christian  emblem  is  swept  out  of  the 
school  room  with  scorn  and  contempt;  the  very  name  of 
God  is  obliterated  from  the  school  books,  and  the  precepts 
of  Mohammed  and  Buddha  are  substituted  for  those  of 
Christ.  It  is  a  Jew  who  rules  in  Rome.  What  are  you 
going  to  do  about  it,  soldiers  of  Our  Lady  of  Ransom,  now 
that  such  things  are  occurring  in  our  own  country? 

Added  to  all  this,  the  history  of  Mohammedanism,  as 
everyone  knows,  is  one  long  series  of  deeds  of  blood.  When 
we  take  up  our  daily  papers  with  their  unending  catalogues 
of  murders  which  are  continually  multiplying  around  us, 
both  in  frequency  and  atrocity,  and  when  we  find  ourselves 
.feeling  only  a  passing  horror  and  expecting  as  a  matter  of 
course  repetition  of  such  butcheries  as  that  which  occurred 
in  Lisbon  the  other  day,  is  it  not  time  for  us  to  remember 
that  the  world  looks  to  Catholicity  as  the  only  barrier  that 
can  stay  the  wild  torrent  of  anarchy  which  is  wrecking  soci- 
ety? We,  above  all  other  men,  should  be  conspicuous  for 
our  reverence  and  support  and  championship  of  law  and 
order  and  authority,  in  the  family  and  in  the  State;  we, 
above  all  others,  should  be  pronounced  in  our  absolute  alien- 
ation from,  and  condemnation  of,  every  association  that  may 
be  a  menace  to  public  order;  and  the  peace-loving  and  law- 
abiding  character  of  our  lives  should  be  such  that,  like  the 
cloak  and  the  cross  of  the  Knights  of  Ransom,  it  will  let 
men  know  what  is  the  main  object  of  our  mission  in  life.  As 
St.  Paul  warns  us,  we  may  be  the  victims,  but  must  never 
be  the  perpetrators,  of  iniquity.  Finally,  the  wreckage  of 
family  life  by  the  hideous  multiplication  of  divorce,  which 
is  stripping  the  last  ray  of  decency  from  womanhood  shows 
us  how  far  the  precepts  and  practices  of  Mohammedanism 
prevail.  So  base  have  we  become  that  the  Minister  of  Jus- 
tice in  once  Catholic  France  has  not  hesitated  to  propose 
a  union  of  man  and  woman  which  is  more  degrading  than 


CHURCH   OF  OUR  LADY   OF  MERCY     295 

that  of  a  Turkish  harem.  Marriages  and  households  are 
becoming  Mohammedan.  What  should  ours  be? 

In  a  word,  the  Turk  has  not  only  crossed  the  Mediterra- 
nean, but  the  Atlantic.  The  unbeliever,  the  enemy  of  Christ, 
rules  in  the  literature,  education,  morals,  politics,  and  even 
the  religion  of  what  once  was  the  Christian  world. 

What  are  we  to  do  then?  Go  forth  with  your  cross  on 
your  breast  for  the  ransom  of  captives.  Let  your  Catho- 
licity be  in  evidence  everywhere  and  always  positive  and 
pronounced.  Never  was  there  such  an  opportunity  of  mak- 
ing it  prevail,  now  that  all  difference  of  sects  has  disap- 
peared and  the  issue  is  plainly  between  Christianity  and 
paganism. 

"  But  we  will  not  listen  to  you;  we  do  not  want  your  doc- 
trines," cry  the  people  around  us.  "  Give  us  deeds,  not 
creeds."  Well,  give  them  deeds,  while  treasuring  above  all 
earthly  possessions  the  only  one  of  all  the  creeds  that  gives 
assurance  of  salvation.  Show  them,  first  of  all,  this  deed, 
this  magnificent  church  which  out  of  your  poverty  and  your 
piety  you  have  erected  and  dedicated  to  Almighty  God. 
Every  stone  of  it  is  eloquent  of  countless  noble  and  even 
heroic  deeds,  the  deeds  not  of  yourselves  alone,  but  of  all 
the  dead  of  these  last  fifty  years  whose  spirits  are  here  to- 
day, the  men  and  women  who,  in  less  fortunate  times  than 
our  own,  worshipped  before  these  altars  and  in  poverty, 
contempt,  and  often  persecution,  made  possible  what  we 
have  achieved  to-day.  It  is  the  work  of  those  who,  driven 
out  of  the  beloved  old  church  by  the  remorseless  grind  of 
material  progress,  saw  themselves  compelled  to  begin  again 
the  task  accomplished  at  the  cost  of  so  many  a  hard  and 
bitter  sacrifice.  It  is  the  work  of  the  beloved  pastor,  Father 
Foley,  who,  while  disease  was  gnawing  at  his  vitals,  nerved 
himself  for  this  mighty  task,  no  doubt  conscious  that  he 
would  never  live  to  see  its  completion.  It  is  the  work  of 
those  devoted  priests  who  have  labored  here  in  the  past 


296  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

and  are  especially  happy  to-day  to  find  themselves  kneeling 
at  the  same  beloved  altar  where  so  often  they  were  privi- 
leged to  offer  the  Holy  Sacrifice.  It  is  the  work  of  your 
new  pastor,  who  would  never  dare  to  assume  this  fearful 
responsibility  did  he  not  know  that  the  love  and  affection 
bestowed  on  his  predecessor  will  be  accorded  to  him.  It  is 
the  work  of  every  man  and  woman  who  have  deprived  them- 
selves over  and  over  again  of  what  perhaps  they  sorely 
needed  that  God  might  be  glorified  in  His  holy  temple. 
And  may  we  not  say,  though  it  is  often  forgotten  on  these 
occasions,  it  is  the  work  of  those  two  men  who  merit  your 
gratitude  and  whose  names  it  would  be  an  injustice  to  omit 
at  this  moment  of  your  triumph  —  the  architect  who  with 
an  evident  joy  in  working  for  God  planned  this  noble  edi- 
fice, whose  perfect  symmetry  and  tranquil  beauty  need  no 
glare  or  glitter,  and  whose  magnificence  even  before  it  has 
received  its  full  adornment  gives  us,  along  with  admiration 
for  its  splendor,  the  sense  of  security  and  strength  which 
are  so  befitting  in  a  temple  of  the  Most  High.  With  him 
is  his  devoted  associate,  the  builder,  whose  exquisite  care 
and  finish  of  every  detail  evinces  the  spirit  of  Catholic  faith 
with  which  he  toiled  so  scrupulously  and  so  well  and  with 
a  solicitude  which  he  would  not  bestow  on  a  mere  secular 
edifice.  The  names  of  both  of  these  distinguished  men  — 
for  to  have  built  so  well  is  an  eminent  distinction  —  must 
be  forever  associated  with  this  monument  to  God's  glory. 

Nay,  is  it  not  the  work  of  the  humble  laborers  who  helped 
to  rear  this  structure?  For  there  is  not  a  man  of  them  who 
carried  the  mortar,  or  laid  the  brick,  or  polished  the  marble, 
or  did  anything  whatever  who  was  not  made  happier  by  the 
fact  that  he  was  building  for  God,  and  who  will  not  rejoice 
in  after  years  to  tell  his  children  that  he  had  a  share  in  its 
construction.  He  knows  that  God  gave  him  a  blessing  for 
his  work  in  this  sacred  place. 

It  is  the  work  of  the  past  and  the  present,  of  laborers  and 


CHURCH  OF  OUR  LADY  OF  MERCY  297 

builder  and  architect  and  priests  and  people,  and  of  the  de- 
voted prelate  whose  impulse  prompted  and  whose  word 
guided  the  great  enterprise  and  whose  apostolic  zeal  is 
covering  his  dioceses  with  worthy  temples  of  the  Most 
High.  It  is  the  work  of  the  living,  it  is  the  work  of  the 
dead,  and  it  will  ever  express  in  enduring  stone  an  unim- 
aginable accumulation  of  splendid  deeds  continued  through 
half  a  century  of  suffering  and  self-denial  to  express  the 
piety,  the  love  of  humanity,  the  love  of  country,  and  the 
love  of  God  that  has  actuated  this  congregation  which,  after 
doing  so  much,  deliberately  faces  other  sacrifices  in  the  fu- 
ture. No  other  religious  body,  said  one  of  our  great  states- 
men, and  we  may  add  no  other  secular  body,  gives  such  a 
guarantee  of  its  loyalty  and  devotion  to  the  institutions  and 
laws  of  this  country  and  of  trust  in  its  future  as  do  Catho- 
lics, who  cover  the  land  with  hospitals,  asylums,  schools,  and 
churches.  To-day  we  contribute  one  more  proof  of  our 
love  of  our  fellow-man,  of  our  country,  and  of  God.  You 
want  deeds.  Show  us  anything  you  have  ever  done  to  com- 
pare with  this  deed  of  fifty  years'  continuance;  but  remem- 
ber, it  needed  a  creed  to  do  it. 

But  this  material  structure  is  only  an  instrumentality. 
Every  sign  or  symbol  or  ceremony  or  sacrifice  or  sacrament 
in  any  way  associated  with  or  performed  in  it  is  only  a  help 
towards  the  building  up  of  every  possible  virtue  in  human 
nature  and  its  diffusion  on  the  world  outside.  Honesty, 
temperance,  chastity,  love  of  our  fellow-man,  especially  the 
humblest  and  poorest,  love  of  justice,  love  of  truth,  love  of 
religion,  love  of  God,  in  a  word,  virtue  of  every  kind,  from 
its  feeblest  beginnings  to  its  sublimest  manifestations,  is  to 
be  developed  by  your  co-operation  so  that  you  may  stand 
forth  like  your  glorious  church.  Its  marble  front  reflects 
the  splendor  of  the  midday  sun  and  gleams  white  in  gloom 
of  the  midnight.  The  storms  beat  upon  its  roof,  but  can 
never  penetrate  its  arch  of  stone;  conflagrations  may  sweep 


298  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

across  it,  and  we  may  sit  in  tranquillity  within  its  shelter- 
ing walls.  So  let  us  be  in  sunshine  and  in  darkness;  in  the 
calm  that  may  rest  upon  our  lives  or  the  wild  storms  that 
may  seem  to  overwhelm  us.  By  serenely  and  joyfully  show- 
ing to  the  world  examples  of  every  virtue,  you  will  be  truly 
Christians  and  truly  Catholics.  In  that  way,  and  only  in 
that  way,  can  we,  under  the  sweet  guidance  of  the  Queen 
of  Heaven,  gain  captives  from  error  and  vice  and  lead 
them  into  the  liberty  of  the  children  of  God. 


The  Eucharist  in  the  Early  Missions 
of  North  America 

Montreal  Eucharistic  Congress,  1910 

THE  first  chapter  of  the  history  of  the  Blessed 
Eucharist  in  our  part  of  the  world  would  be  an 
account  of  the  attempt  of  the  Bishops  of  Green- 
land to  establish  a  Christian  colony  in  America  one  thousand 
years  ago.  Unfortunately,  however,  we  cannot  fix  with  any 
degree  of  certainty  even  the  location  of  the  famous  Vinland, 
but  as  we  know  that  not  only  priests  but  also  bishops  crossed 
the  intervening  sea  to  look  after  their  flocks,  we  are  safe 
in  concluding  that  the  Holy  Sacrifice  was  offered  on  these 
coasts  with  all  the  pomp  and  solemnity  which  the  ritual 
requires  when  prelates  officiate  at  the  altar. 

We  obtain  more  definite  information  as  we  approach 
nearer  to  modern  times.  When  England  was  still  Catho- 
lic, Rut  was  sent  out,  in  1527,  to  explore  the  northern  parts 
of  the  continent;  his  ship  was  the  Mary  of  Guilford,  and  the 
chaplain  of  the  expedition  is  described  as  "  a  canon  of  St. 
Paul's  in  London,  a  very  learned  man  and  mathematician." 
The  ports  of  Newfoundland,  Cape  Breton,  and  Norumbega 
were  visited,  and  men  were  sent  ashore  to  examine  the 
country. 

It  is  quite  inconceivable  that  the  "  learned  man  and 
mathematician  "  should  have  remained  on  board  the  ship 
on  such  occasions,  and  especially  that  in  his  capacity  of 
priest  he  should  not  have  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity 
of  celebrating  Mass  somewhere  on  the  coast,  so  as  to  take 
possession  of  the  land  for  Christ.  The  presence  of  this 
London  canon  on  the  Mary  of  Guilford  also  brings  out  the 


300  VARIOUS   DISCOURSES 

interesting  fact  that  the  Gospel  must  have  been  first 
preached  here  in  the  English  tongue. 

The  journal  of  Jacques  Cartier  in  1536,  if  it  has  not 
been  tampered  with,  furnishes  much  valuable  information 
about  the  subject  with  which  we  are  concerned.  We  have, 
for  instance,  the  following  entry:  "Before  setting  out,  by 
command  of  the  captain  "  —  namely  himself  —  "  and  with 
the  perfect  good  will  of  the  men,  each  one  of  the  crew  went 
to  confession,  and  on  Pentecost  Sunday,  May  6,  1535,  we 
all  received  our  Creator  in  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Malo,  and 
were  afterwards  admitted  to  the  choir,  where  the  Bishop 
in  his  robes  gave  us  his  benediction." 

Such  was  Cartier's  prelude  to  his  discoveries.  He  is  said 
to  have  taken  with  him  two  Benedictine  monks  as  chaplains, 
Dom  Guillaume  le  Breton  and  Dom  Antoine,  and  he  is 
careful  to  note  the  various  places  where  he  had  them  go 
ashore  to  celebrate  Mass.  The  ugly  Eskimos,  whom  no- 
body thought  of,  were  the  first  to  be  honored;  for  Ferland 
tells  us  that  Cartier  entered  the  port  of  Ilettes,  now  called 
Brador,  and  then  the  harbor  of  Brest  or  Vieuxpont.  The 
journal  also  notes  that  "  Mass  was  said  there  on  St.  Bar- 
nabas' Day  [June  1 1],  for  all  the  crew,"  that  is,  no  one  was 
left  on  board  the  ship;  but  it  does  not  tell  us  if  any  of  the 
natives  gathered  around  wondering  at  the  solemn  ceremony. 

Of  course,  Mass  was  offered  on  shipboard  whenever 
the  weather  permitted,  and  it  is  very  probable  that  when 
"  the  vessel  was  driven  for  shelter  into  a  beautiful  and 
great  bay  full  of  islands,  and  with  easy  access  and  pro- 
tection from  the  sea,"  the  two  monks  did  not  fail  to  ascend 
the  altar.  It  was  then  August  10,  the  feast  of  St.  Law- 
rence; in  commemoration  of  the  event  Cartier  named  the 
Gulf  after  the  saint.  According  to  Ferland,  that  harbor 
was  probably  Sainte  Genevieve,  nine  miles  from  Eskimo 
Point. 

Cartier  ascended  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  one  is  tempted 


THE  EUCHARIST  IN  NORTH  AMERICA    301 

to  ask  whether,  when  he  climbed  the  hill  which  he  called 
Mount  Royal,  he  ordered  the  celebration  of  Mass,  thus 
anticipating  Maisonneuve  by  a  hundred  years.  There  is 
no  record  of  his  having  done  so,  but  the  man  who  would 
go  ashore  among  the  Eskimos,  for  the  first  solemn  prise  de 
possession,  might  be  counted  on  to  do  the  same,  when  the 
Sault  barred  his  further  progress  up  the  river,  especially 
as  he  had  decided  that  it  was  the  best  place  to  establish  a 
city.  His  devotion  to  the  Holy  Eucharist  is  very  touchingly 
told  in  his  description  of  the  terrible  winter  which  he  was 
compelled  to  pass  at  the  foot  of  the  Rock  of  Quebec. 

Out  of  one  hundred  and  ten  of  his  men  one  hundred 
were  down  with  the  scurvy.  "  I  therefore,"  he  says, 
"  placed  an  image  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  on  a  tree,  about 
a  musket  shot  from  the  fort,  and  ordered  that  on  the  fol- 
lowing Sunday  all,  both  sick  and  well,  who  were  able  to 
go  over  the  snow  and  ice,  should  make  a  pilgrimage 
thither,  singing  the  seven  psalms  of  David  and  the  litany,  to 
implore  the  Blessed  Virgin,  that  she  would  deign  to  ask 
her  dear  Son  to  have  pity  on  us.  When  the  Mass  was 
said  and  sung  before  the  said  image,  I  constituted  myself 
Master  Pilgrim  to  Our  Lady  who  is  prayed  to  at  Rocama- 
dour,  promising  to  go  thither  if  God  would  grant  us  the 
grace  to  return  to  France." 

Unfortunately  not  a  few  historians  maintain  that  Cartier 
had  no  priests  with  him  on  any  of  his  voyages.  The  names 
of  the  Benedictines,  the  places  where  Mass  was  celebrated, 
etc.,  are,  according  to  the  critics,  interpolations,  written  by 
an  unwise  admirer  of  Cartier,  who  needed  no  false  glory. 

Though  Henry  Hudson  was  not  of  the  household  of 
the  Faith,  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  notice  here  that, 
before  venturing  on  his  expedition  to  discover  the  North- 
west Passage,  in  1609,  he  went  with  his  crew,  in  solemn 
procession,  to  the  church  of  St.  Ethelburga  off  Bishops- 
gate  Street,  London,  where  they  received  Communion  and 


302  VARIOUS   DISCOURSES 

implored  God's  help  in  their  perilous  undertaking;  and  ten 
years  later  the  devout  and  heroic  Danish  explorer,  Jens 
Munck,  who  nearly  perished  amid  the  horrors  of  the  Hud- 
son Bay,  had,  as  his  chaplain,  "  a  priest "  who  celebrated 
all  the  festivals  of  the  Church  and  regularly  made  "  the 
offertory  for  the  crew." 

Of  course  valid  orders  had  not  persevered  in  England 
when  Hudson  received  Holy  Communion,  nor  were  the 
"offertories"  of  Munck's  priest  chaplain  the  Mass;  but 
both  of  these  instances  illustrate  how  the  eucharistic  tra- 
ditions still  lingered  in  both  England  and  Denmark.  It 
is  consoling  to  see  them  connected  with  the  first  American 
explorations. 

Then  comes  a  gap  of  seventy  years,  and  the  next  priests 
who  appear  in  this  part  of  the  world  were  the  two  who 
went  with  de  Monts  to  Acadia  —  one,  the  Abbe  Aubry, 
who  nearly  lost  his  life  in  the  woods  and  shortly  after  re- 
turned to  France;  and  another  who  died  almost  as  soon 
as  he  landed.  After  them  comes  the  Abbe  Flesche,  who 
was  decorated  with  the  singular  baptismal  name  of  Joshua, 
and  who  for  the  prodigality  of  his  baptisms  was  recalled 
to  France.  Finally,  on  May  22,  1611,  the  Jesuits  Biard 
and  Masse  arrived.  All  of  these  priests  celebrated  the 
Holy  Mysteries  frequently,  if  not  regularly,  for  the  condi- 
tions were  hard  and  at  times  impossible;  but  there  are  two 
or  three  occasions  which,  on  account  of  their  picturesque 
surroundings,  call  for  special  notice. 

The  Commandant  Potrincourt  had  quarrelled  with  one 
of  his  officers,  Du  Pont,  who  had  taken  flight  and  was  liv- 
ing among  the  Indians.  As  it  was  morally  a  very  dangerous 
situation  for  the  fugitive,  Father  Biard  interceded,  till 
the  Commandant  relented  and  agreed  to  go  in  search  of 
him.  They  found  him  on  the  other  side  of  the  Bay  of 
Fundy,  and  after  the  reconciliation  Du  Pont  went  to  con- 
fession on  the  beach;  the  Indians  standing  at  a  distance 


THE  EUCHARIST  IN  NORTH  AMERICA     303 

and  wondering  why  he  was  so  long  kneeling  at  the  feet  of 
the  priest.  When  the  poor  wretch  was  shriven,  an  altar 
was  erected  on  the  shore,  and  Mass  was  said  at  which  Du 
Pont  received  his  Easter  Communion.  The  place  was 
known  as  La  Pierre  Blanche,  evidently  Whitehead  Point 
on  the  Grand  Menan,  off  the  coast  of  Maine. 

There  was  another  celebration  of  Mass  under  still  more 
peculiar  conditions.  The  younger  Potrincourt  had  heard 
that  there  was  a  band  of  poachers  plying  their  trade  some 
distance  up  the  St.  John  River,  and  he  started  out  to  find 
them.  He  arrived  at  night,  saluted  the  fort  and  was  saluted 
in  return  and  invited  to  land.  Next  morning  he  went 
ashore,  and  Father  Biard  celebrated  Mass  on  the  beach; 
the  poachers,  who  were  all  Frenchmen,  coming  out  of 
their  defences  to  assist  at  it  like  good  Christians.  When 
all  was  over,  Potrincourt,  to  the  disgust  and  amazement 
of  everyone,  suddenly  announced  that  the  men  who  had 
been  kneeling  around  the  altar  with  him,  their  hearts  no 
doubt  full  of  brotherly  love,  were  his  prisoners.  Wild 
disorder  of  course  ensued,  which  came  near  ending  in  blood- 
shed, but  after  a  night  and  a  day,  peace  was  restored,  and 
Potrincourt  sailed  away  with  the  priest  to  explore  the  coast 
of  Maine. 

On  the  28th  of  October,  1611,  the  little  ship  entered  the 
Kennebec  and  ventured  up  the  river.  How  far  they  went 
is  not  said.  The  Indians  were  suspected  at  first  and  kept 
at  a  distance,  but  were  at  last  allowed  to  board  the  vessel 
for  trade.  Profiting  by  the  opportunity,  Biard  took  a  boy 
with  him  and  went  ashore  to  celebrate  Mass.  Meantime 
the  redmen  became  so  riotous  on  the  ship  that  Potrincourt 
was  several  times  on  the  point  of  ordering  a  general  mas- 
sacre. The  thought  of  the  priest  at  the  altar  in  the  woods 
was  the  only  thing  that  prevented  his  action.  Finally  the 
chiefs  called  off  the  braves,  and  Father  Biard  clambered 
up  the  ship's  side  only  to  learn  how  near  he  had  come  to 


3o4  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

being  killed  with  the  chalice  in  his  hands.  It  is  to  be  re- 
gretted that  it  is  impossible  to  identify  the  place. 

As  the  troubles  increased  at  Port  Royal,  the  Jesuits 
abandoned  it,  and  settled  at  Mount  Desert  in  the  present 
State  of  ]y[aine.  There,  says  Bancroft,  "  in  front  of  a 
cross  in  the  centre  of  the  village,  Mass  was  said,  and  the 
Roman  Church  entered  into  possession  of  the  soil  of 
Maine."  But  there  were  not  many  Masses  said  there. 
The  English  soon  descended  upon  the  colony  and  gave  it 
over  to  the  flames,  taking  away  the  priests  to  hang  them 
in  Virginia  —  a  project  which  a  merciful  Providence  pre- 
vented. The  name  Saint  Sauveur,  which  was  given  to  the 
settlement,  still  remains,  and  has  even  been  appropriated 
by  the  Episcopal  chapel  of  the  place. 

It  is  somewhat  surprising  that,  when  Champlain  brought 
over  the  Recollets  in  1615,  the  first  Mass  was  not  said 
at  Quebec,  but  further  up  the  river,  namely,  on  the  Island 
of  Montreal.  Champlain  himself  tells  us  that  "  the  Holy 
Sacrifice  of  the  Mass  was  sung  on  the  shore  of  the  Riviere 
des  Prairies  with  great  devotion  by  Fathers  Denis  and 
Joseph,  in  presence  of  all  the  people,  who  admired  the 
vestments,  which  were  more  beautiful  than  anything  those 
people  had  ever  seen,  for  this  was  the  first  time  Mass  was 
ever  celebrated  there." 

There  is  a  curious  conflict  of  authorities  about  the  first 
Mass  that  was  offered  at  Quebec  after  the  return  of  the 
French  in  1632.  The  Abrege  chronologique  et  historlque 
de  tons  les  pretres  du  Canada  pretends  that  a  priest  of 
the  Missions  Etrangeres  named  Benoit  Duplein,  who  could 
speak  English,  had  remained  in  the  city  and  had  continued 
to  say  Mass  during  all  the  time  of  the  Occupation.  Un- 
fortunately for  this  claim,  the  Society  of  the  Missions 
Etrangeres  was  not  established  until  forty  years  later.  The 
year  1632  was  evidently  mistaken  for  1672,  for  at  the 
latter  date  there  was  a  Benoit  Duplein  of  the  Missions 


THE  EUCHARIST  IN  NORTH  AMERICA    305 

fitrangeres  in  Quebec.  Possibly,  also,  the  writer  was  mis- 
led by  the  official  Register  of  Quebec,  in  which  it  is  said 
that  a  daughter  of  Couillard  was  baptized  in  1631.  She 
was  indeed  baptized,  but  the  officiating  clergyman  was  the 
Protestant  minister  who  had  come  to  the  city  with  the 
Kirkes  in  1629. 

The  Couillard  family  probably  thought  it  was  the  best 
thing  they  could  do,  especially  as  they  saw  that  the  parson 
was  being  brutally  treated  by  Kirke  for  having  protested 
against  the  liquor  traffic,  and  also  for  attempting  to  prevent 
the  execution  of  some  Iroquois  captives.  He  was  kept  a 
prisoner  for  six  months  in  the  dilapidated  Recollet  con- 
vent, under  the  charge  of  fomenting  rebellion  among  the 
soldiers.  No  doubt  he  was  glad  to  see  the  French  return 
to  their  possession.  As  for  the  Mass,  Le  Jeune,  in  the 
Relation  of  1632,  distinctly  says  that  there  was  no  priest 
in  Quebec  during  the  Occupation,  that  is,  for  three  whole 
years.  It  was  he  himself  who  said  that  first  Mass,  and 
it  was  celebrated  in  Couillard's  house  on  the  I3th  or  i4th 
of  July.  The  house  had  to  be  used,  for  the  English  had 
burnt  the  chapel  Ln  the  basse  ville. 

After  Champlain  returned,  piety  reigned  in  Quebec,  and 
Le  Jeune  writes  that  the  scenes  at  Mass  almost  made  him 
think  he  was  home  again,  in  France.  The  church  was 
crowded  at  all  the  services,  the  ceremonies  were  carried 
out  with  all  possible  solemnity,  and  the  fervor  of  the  colo- 
nists resembled  that  of  the  first  Christians.  It  should  be 
noted,  however,  that  it  was  a  penal  offence  to  be  absent 
from  Mass. 

It  is  sometimes  asked  whether  the  old  missionaries  al- 
ways celebrated  Mass  on  their  apostolic  journeys.  Some- 
times they  did,  but  often  it  was  absolutely  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. Thus  Father  Jogues  never  offered  the  Holy  Sacri- 
fice during  all  the  time  he  was  in  New  York.  It  was 
evidently  impossible,  when  he  was  carried  thither  as  a 


3o6  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

prisoner,  with  his  body  slashed  and  his  hands  crippled  and 
mangled. 

Nor  could  he  have  even  done  so  on  his  second  visit, 
for  he  was  warned  to  have  nothing  sacerdotal  even  in  his 
appearance,  and  he  went  there  as  an  envoy  of  the  Gover- 
nor, in  the  garb  of  a  layman;  and  on  the  last  and  fatal 
journey,  he  took  neither  vestments  nor  chalice  with  him, 
for  he  intended  to  remain  with  the  Mohawks  only  during 
the  winter,  and,  as  he  said  himself,  to  be  "  without  the 
Mass  and  the  Sacraments."  He  was  captured  at  Lake 
George,  and  was  killed  almost  as  soon  as  he  arrived  at 
Ossernenon.  That  was  in  1646. 

In  1646,  when  Father  Druillettes  made  his  daring  journey 
in  a  canoe  from  Quebec  to  Boston,  he  was  cordially  received 
by  the  old  Puritans,  and  he  tells  us  that  he  was  the  guest 
of  a  Major  Gibbons,  who  gave  him  a  key  to  his  room,  where 
he  might  say  his  prayers  without  fear  of  being  disturbed. 
Whether  he  availed  himself  of  that  seclusion  to  offer  up 
the  Holy  Sacrifice  he  does  not  say.  But  as  our  only  source 
of  information  is  a  public  document,  in  which  he  had  to 
restrict  himself  to  an  account  of  the  official  work  which  he 
was  sent  to  perform,  we  cannot  expect  to  have  any  infor- 
mation on  the  matter  of  his  devotions.  It  might  have 
compromised  Gibbons. 

It  was  evidently  impossible  also  for  de  Brebeuf  and 
Chaumonot  to  have  said  Mass  even  once  during  their  ter- 
rible winter  journey  of  four  months  from  Lake  Huron  to 
Niagara,  and  from  there  to  a  place  opposite  the  present 
site  of  Detroit,  and  then  back  to  the  cabin  from  which  they 
had  started  out.  Almost  every  wigwam  either  barred  its 
doors  against  them  or  drove  them  out  into  the  snow.  Nor 
did  Millet  during  his  five  years'  captivity  at  Oneida  ever 
say  Mass. 

There  is  a  notable  example,  however,  of  frequency  of 
Communion  in  the  accounts  of  the  last  terrible  days  of 


THE  EUCHARIST  IN  NORTH  AMERICA    307 

Father  Menard's  life  out  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Superior, 
in  1660.  The  chronicle  thus  relates  it: 

"  In  the  second  winter  an  attempt  was  made  to  fish,  and 
it  was  pitiable  to  see  these  poor  Frenchmen  in  a  canoe, 
amid  rain  and  snow,  driven  hither  and  thither  by  the  whirl- 
winds of  these  great  lakes.  They  frequently  had  their 
hands  and  feet  frozen,  and  sometimes  they  were  overtaken 
by  snow  so  thick  that  the  man  steering  the  canoe  could  not 
see  his  companion  in  the  bow.  But  while  destitute  of 
bodily  comfort,  they  were  strengthened  by  heavenly  favors. 
As  long  as  the  Father  was  alive,  they  had  Holy  Mass  every 
day,  and  confessed  and  received  Holy  Communion  about 
once  a  week."  The  men  succeeded  in  getting  back  to  Que- 
bec, but  Menard  died  farther  on  in  the  wilderness. 

Of  course,  when  circumstances  permitted,  those  great 
missionaries  did  not  allow  the  opportunity  to  pass  of  offer- 
ing the  Holy  Sacrifice,  no  matter  what  intense  suffering  it 
caused  them.  Thus  Albanel  tells  us  that  for  four  succes- 
sive days  on  the  Saguenay,  while  the  tempest  was  howling 
in  the  bay,  the  fire  was  extinguished  in  the  wigwam  so  as 
to  prevent  the  priest  from  being  stifled  by  the  smoke,  in 
which  he  would  otherwise  be  obliged  to  stand,  and  then, 
in  the  almost  insufferable  cold  that  resulted,  the  Indians 
knelt  around  the  rude  altar  until  the  priest  had  finished 
and  the  fire  was  again  lighted.  The  date  is  1670. 

Father  Buteux,  the  apostle  of  Three  Rivers,  has  left  us 
some  very  graphic  descriptions  of  these  ceremonies  in  the 
wilderness.  Thus,  for  instance,  at  the  end  of  March,  1651, 
he  started  with  a  band  of  Indians  for  the  Whitefish  coun- 
try. At  night  they  slept  in  a  hole  dug  in  the  snow.  Some 
soldiers  who  made  that  first  day's  journey  with  them  said 
it  was  like  going  into  a  sepulchre,  and  they  turned  back  next 
day  to  Three  Rivers,  while  Buteux  and  his  Indians  pro- 
ceeded north.  "  On  the  4th  day,"  writes  Buteux,  "  I  said 
Mass  on  a  little  island.  It  was  the  first  time  the  adorable 


3o8  VARIOUS   DISCOURSES 

Sacrifice  was  offered  in  these  parts.  There  was  a  discharge 
of  musketry  at  the  Elevation,  and  after  Mass  a  feast  of 
Indian  corn  and  eels. 

"  On  the  yth  day  we  walked  from  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning  till  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  In  order  to 
reach  an  island  where  I  wanted  to  say  Mass,  for  it  was 
Palm  Sunday.  I  succeeded,  but  I  had  a  share  in  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  Passion  of  our  good  Master.  My  thirst  made 
my  tongue  adhere  to  my  palate.  The  extra  burden  I  had 
to  carry  when  my  man  left  me  aggravated  my  pains.  The 
Indians  saw  my  weakness  during  Mass  and  afterwards  gave 
me  some  sagamite,  made  especially  for  me,  which  consisted 
of  some  dough  boiled  in  water  and  with  it  the  half  of  a 
dried  eel. 

"  The  thirteenth  day  was  the  hardest  of  all.  We 
started  out  at  three  in  the  morning,  by  horrible  roads, 
through  underbrush  so  thick  that  it  was  impossible  to  find 
a  place  for  either  our  feet  or  our  raquettes.  I  got  lost  sev- 
eral times  because  I  could  not  follow  the  trail.  We  then 
reached  some  lakes  where  the  ice  was  very  slippery,  yet  im- 
possible to  walk  on  without  raquettes,  for  there  was  danger 
of  going  through  the  ice;  and  on  the  other  hand  the  snow 
and  melting  ice  made  our  feet  very  heavy.  At  mid-day  we 
stopped,  and  I  had  the  happiness  of  saying  Mass,  which 
was  my  only  consolation.  There  I  found  strength  in  my 
weariness.  To  revive  me,  for  I  was  exhausted,  they  offered 
me  a  piece  of  beaver,  which  had  been  left  over  from  the 
day  before.  I  did  not  take  it,  but  offered  it  to  Our  Lord, 
for  I  had  not  tasted  meat  from  the  beginning  of  Lent. 

"  The  fourteenth  day  was  Easter  Sunday,  the  ninth  of 
April,  and  I  was  very  much  consoled  at  the  piety  displayed 
by  the  Indians.  Our  little  chapel,  built  of  cedar  and  pine 
branches,  was  beautifully  decorated,  that  is  to  say,  each 
one  had  brought  whatever  pictures  and  new  stuffs  he  had, 
and  hung  them  here  and  there  on  the  walls. 


THE  EUCHARIST  IN  NORTH  AMERICA    309 

"  After  blessing  the  congregation  with  holy  water  and 
distributing  the  pain  benit,  which  was  a  piece  of  bread  I 
had  kept  for  that  purpose,  the  chief  made  a  speech  to 
excite  the  devotion  of  his  people.  When  Communion 
and  thanksgiving  were  over,  and  the  beads  recited,  they 
came  to  offer  me  some  little  presents :  one  gave  me  a  piece 
of  fat  elk-meat,  another  a  partridge,  and  so  on.  They 
deprived  themselves  of  these  things  to  give  them  to  me, 
in  spite  of  the  hunger  that  was  gnawing  their  vitals  as  well 
as  mine." 

There  are  many  such  heroic  acts  of  homage  to  the  Blessed 
Sacrament  in  those  north  woods  during  the  wonderful  ca- 
reer of  Father  Buteux.  The  incidents  just  related  occurred 
at  the  end  of  his  life.  He  was  killed  in  those  same  forests 
shortly  after,  and  his  body  was  thrown  into  the  rapids. 

In  Father  de  Crespieul's  Relation  we  have  a  description 
of  a  Repository  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament  in  the  forests 
beyond  the  Saguenay,  which  is  worth  reproducing  here. 
"  Our  journey  ended,"  he  says,  "  at  the  Lake  of  the  Cross, 
so  called  from  its  shape.  It  was  Holy  Week,  in  1673,  and 
the  locality  suggested  that  more  than  usual  devotion  should 
be  displayed  in  the  Adoration  of  the  Holy  Cross ;  and  though 
it  may  excite  astonishment,  that  for  the  proper  celebration 
of  the  most  august  mysteries  of  our  religion  we  were  able 
to  find  room  in  our  poor  cabin  for  everything  that  con- 
formity with  the  Church  requires  during  Holy  Week,  yet 
we  accomplished  it,  in  order  to  bring  our  winter  to  a  happy 
end,  and  to  consecrate  those  rocks  and  mountains  by  all 
we  possess  of  what  is  holiest  and  most  worthy  of  veneration. 
Thursday,  Friday,  and  Saturday  of  Holy  Week  converted 
our  forests  into  a  chapel,  and  our  cabin  into  a  repository, 
where  very  few  of  the  ceremonies  observed  at  the  time  by 
Christians  were  omitted  by  our  Indians.  Above  all  they 
showed  profound  respect,  and  maintained  religious  silence 
in  the  cabin  in  which  the  Blessed  Sacrament  was  placed 


3io  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

during  the  night,  between  Thursday  and  Friday,  and  in  the 
depth  of  that  desert  this  august  mystery  was  honored 
without  ceasing,  by  continual  prayer,  which  suffered  no 
interruption  in  the  darkness  of  the  night.  Easter  Sunday 
crowned  it  all  by  a  general  Communion." 

It  may  be  noted  that  the  Assouapmouchouan,  which 
empties  into  the  Saguenay,  had  been  called  the  River  of 
the  Blessed  Sacrament  by  Father  Dablon  in  1660.  Jogues 
had  so  called  Lake  George  in  1646.  These,  it  goes  without 
saying,  were  acts  of  homage  to  the  Holy  Eucharist. 

In  Marquette's  exploration  of  the  Mississippi  there  is 
no  mention,  as  far  as  we  are  aware,  of  his  ever  landing 
for  the  purpose  of  saying  Mass;  but  there  is  a  valuable  bit 
of  eucharistic  information  in  his  account  of  his  journey  to 
the  Illinois  in  the  following  year.  His  two  men,  Pierre  and 
Jacques,  went  to  confession  and  received  Holy  Communion 
twice  a  week,  thus  antedating  the  practice  of  the  present 
day. 

The  question  naturally  arises,  How  did  they  procure 
wine  for  the  Mass  in  these  solitudes?  Of  course  they  had 
to  carry  it  with  them  on  journeys  such  as  we  have  been  de- 
scribing. But  in  their  ordinary  places  of  abode  they  made 
it  out  of  the  wild  grape.  We  read  in  Sagard  (vol.  i,  228) 
that  "  when  our  little  barrel  of  wine  gave  out,  as  it  soon  did, 
for  it  held  only  two  pots  full,  we  made  wine  from  the  wild 
grape.  Our  wine  press  was  a  mortar,  and  our  strainer  one 
of  the  altar  linens.  We  could  make  only  a  limited  amount, 
for  our  tub  was  nothing  but  a  bucket  made  of  bark.  The 
pressed  grapes  we  mixed  with  sugar,  and  made  into  a  con- 
fection to  eat  on  recreation  days,  or  to  give  to  any  of  our 
compatriots  who  might  visit  us.  They  could  take  a  little 
of  it  on  the  point  of  a  knife." 

There  are  not  many  instances  recorded  of  the  seizure 
of  the  priests'  vestments  by  the  savages.  The  chalice  and 
vestments  of  the  Recollect  Viel,  who  was  drowned  at  Sault- 


THE  EUCHARIST  IN  NORTH  AMERICA    311 

au-Recollet,  were  taken,  but  recovered;  the  latter,  however, 
were  in  rags,  the  Indians  having  used  them  for  decorations. 

When  Le  Maitre,  the  Sulpician,  was  beheaded  near  Mon- 
treal, a  savage  was  seen  shortly  after,  clothed  in  the  priest's 
vestments,  strutting  defiantly  before  the  French  palisade. 
The  chalice  of  Chabanel,  who  was  murdered  on  the  Notta- 
wasaga  River,  was  given  to  the  assassin's  mother,  but  as 
a  great  many  misfortunes  immediately  befell  the  family, 
she  threw  it  into  the  river.  Doubtless,  the  Indians  who 
killed  de  Brebeuf  and  Lalemant,  carried  off  the  sacred  ves- 
sels, though  nothing  is  said  of  it  in  the  Relations.  But  we 
know  that  everything  that  could  be  found  in  Rasle's  chapel 
was  seized  by  the  English  and  brought  to  Boston.  His 
crucifix  and  "  the  strong  box,"  in  which  he  probably  kept 
his  chalice,  are  now  in  the  museum  of  Portland,  Maine. 
Finally,  somewhere  at  the  bottom  of  the  Ottawa  River 
there  is,  if  it  has  not  rotted  to  pieces  meantime,  a  box  full 
of  altar  furniture.  The  canoe  in  which  it  had  been  put 
was  upset,  and  though  the  heroic  young  Indian  Armand, 
who  was  in  charge  of  it,  clung  to  it  as  long  as  he  could 
at  the  risk  of  his  life,  it  was  torn  from  his  grasp  by  the 
torrent  and  disappeared.  A  beautiful  ostensorium  which 
was  made  by  the  Jesuit  Coadjutor  Brother  Giles  has  also 
been  discovered  and  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Wis- 
consin Historical  Society. 

We  do  not  know  if  the  nuns  at  Quebec  made  any  of  the 
vestments,  but  we  have  a  record  of  one  devoted  sister  of 
the  Hotel  Dieu,  of  that  city,  who  supplied  chalice  palls 
for  the  missions  for  the  space  of  forty-two  years  —  from 
1717  to  1759.  In  each  pall  she  would  insert  a  prayer, 
and  an  invocation  such  as  justified  nos,  dealba  nos,  vivifica 
nos. 


Unveiling  of  the  Tablet  in  Honor  of 
Jean  Nicolet 

Before  the  Michigan  Historical  Society,  Mackinac  Island,  July  13,  1915 


1 


memorial  tablet  of  Jean  Nicolet  which  has 
been  affixed  to  the  rocks  of  the  Island  of  Macki- 
nac is  not  only  the  record  of  a  notable  historical 
event,  but  is  also  the  declaration  of  a  doctrine.  It  is  a 
protest  against  a  philosophical  theory  prevalent  at  the 
present  day  that  makes  man  the  creature  as  well  as  the 
victim  of  his  environment;  a  theory  which  assails  the  dig- 
nity of  human  nature  by  robbing  it  of  its  freedom  of  will, 
and  connotes  a  mental  attitude  despised  by  even  the  old 
pagans  themselves.  "  The  just  man,"  sings  the  famous 
Roman  poet,  "will  persist  in  his  purpose;  and  even  if  the 
whole  world  were  to  crash  about  his  head,  he  will  stand 
amid  the  ruins  undismayed."  The  Christian  view  is  not 
content  even  with  this,  and  proclaims  that  he  only  is  the 
true  hero  who  makes  disaster  itself  contribute  to  his  glory. 
Jean  Nicolet  was  not  a  great  explorer  like  Champlain; 
he  was  not  a  picturesque  governor  like  Frontenac;  not  a 
daring  fighter  like  Iberville;  not  even  a  successful  discoverer 
like  Marquette;  nor  a  martyr  like  his  friends  Brebeuf, 
Jogues,  Daniel,  Gamier,  and  Garreau.  He  occupied  no 
conspicuous  position  in  the  official  world;  he  was  not  in- 
trusted with  the  building  or  moulding  or  modifying  of  a 
commonwealth  or  a  colony;  he  was  simply  an  employee  in 
a  trading  post,  an  Indian  interpreter  who  passed  the  longest 
and  most  ambitious  period  of  his  life  amid  surroundings 
that  were  calculated  to  tear  out  of  his  heart  not  only  every 


TABLET  IN  HONOR  OF  JEAN  NICOLET     313 

noble  aspiration,  but  every  recollection  of  Christianity  and 
civilization;  yet  he  was  a  man  who  was  not  only  not  influ- 
enced or  harmed  by  such  surroundings,  but  made  them  min- 
ister to  his  advancement  in  the  noblest  qualities  that  adorn 
humanity;  and  in  doing  so  he  has  achieved  a  greater  glory 
than  the  one  which  this  tablet  specifically  commemorates, 
namely,  his  entrance  into  a  new  and  unknown  territory. 
Being  so  concealed  from  the  public  gaze  and  engaged  in 
work  that  usually  escapes  recognition,  it  is  a  remarkable 
tribute  to  his  work  that  after  almost  three  hundred  years  he 
should  be  selected  by  a  great  Commonwealth  as  particu- 
larly worthy  of  honor.  He  is  not  only  the  first  white  man 
who  appeared  in  what  is  now  the  State  of  Michigan,  but  a 
man  whose  virtues  may  be  proposed  to  the  youth  of  the 
country  as  an  example  and  an  inspiration. 

He  was  a  mere  lad  when  he  stepped  ashore  at  Quebec 
in  1618,  and  the  conditions  that  prevailed  there  at  that 
time  must  have  filled  him  with  consternation  and  dismay. 
For  ten  years  the  heroic  Champlain  had  been  struggling 
with  adversity,  and  each  year  only  brought  him  nearer 
to  the  brink  of  destruction  and  despair.  He  was  in  the 
relentless  grip  of  a  fur  company  that  not  only  owned  the 
colony,  but  had  determined  to  defeat  the  magnificent  proj- 
ect of  making  it  a  mighty  appanage  of  the  crown  of  France 
and  of  increasing  the  glory  and  power  of  the  mother  country 
in  the  New  World.  For  the  traders  it  was  to  be  merely 
a  post  for  making  money.  The  establishment  of  a  colony 
of  Europeans,  and  the  conversion  and  civilization  of  the 
savages,  or  the  considerations  of  patriotism  did  not  enter 
into  their  calculations,  and  Champlain  was  thwarted  at 
every  step.  The  result  was  that  while  the  English  colony 
of  Jamestown,  in  Virginia,  had  at  that  time  four  thousand 
settlers  who  owned  their  own  lands  and  made  their  own 
laws,  Quebec  had  no  more  than  forty  or  fifty  people,  even 
including  the  employees  of  the  company  and  the  mission- 


3 14  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

aries,  and  they  were  all  dependent  on  a  heartless  corpora- 
tion, even  for  bread  to  eat.  The  fort  was  in  a  state  of 
dilapidation  and  decay;  no  assistance  could  be  obtained  to 
repair  its  walls,  and  the  countless  journeys  of  Champlain 
across  the  ocean  to  plead  for  his  wretched  colony  met  only 
with  apathy  and  unconcern,  or  with  promises  that  were  never 
kept.  In  spite  of  it  all,  however,  he  kept  up  the  unequal 
fight.  Though  beaten  and  beaten  again,  he  persevered,  in 
spite  of  accumulated  disasters  which  would  have  crushed 
any  ordinary  man,  until  at  last,  after  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  he  won  the  glory  of  being  classed  among  the 
greatest  men  in  the  history  of  the  Western  World. 

It  must  have  been  the  contemplation  of  Champlain's 
splendid  personality  that  inspired  young  Nicolet  to  live  in 
like  manner,  in  the  humble  career  in  which  Providence  had 
placed  him.  Around  him  were  a  number  of  young  repro- 
bates whose  names  are  infamous  in  Canadian  history: 
Vignau,  who  endeavored  to  murder  Champlain;  Brule, 
whose  morals  were  so  depraved  that  he  was  killed  by  the 
savages,  who  were  themselves  so  vile;  and  Marsollet,  who, 
though  not  so  bad  as  the  rest,  proved  a  traitor  when  Quebec 
succumbed  to  the  English.  Not  only  with  these  and  their 
similars  did  Nicolet  have  nothing  to  do,  but  he  by  his  ex- 
ample, unconsciously  no  doubt,  but  truly  nevertheless,  in- 
augurated that  long  line  of  youthful  Canadian  heroes  whose 
equals  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  in  the  history  of  any  other 
country.  There  was,  for  example,  young  Francois  Mar- 
guerie,  the  idol  of  the  colony,  and  a  splendid  Indian 
fighter  of  whom  it  is  recorded  that  once  when  he  stood  with 
his  sword  at  the  throat  of  a  savage  he  dropped  it,  saying, 
"  If  I  kill  him,  I  shall  be  killed  instantly.  If  I  am  tortured 
to  death,  I  shall  have  more  time  to  prepare  my  soul  to  meet 
God,"  and  he  surrendered;  there  was  his  companion  Nor- 
manville,  who  would  travel  hundreds  of  miles  in  midwinter 
to  get  a  priest  for  a  sick  Indian,  and  who,  after  a  life  of 


TABLET  IN  HONOR  OF  JEAN  NICOLET     315 

adventures  ending  in  the  valiant  defence  of  Three  Rivers, 
was  burned  at  the  stake  on  the  Mohawk;  there  was  Charles 
Le  Moyne,  the  defender  of  Montreal  when  he  was  only  a 
stripling,  who,  besides  the  memory  of  his  countless  exploits, 
left  as  a  heritage  to  New  France  a  remarkable  family  of 
heroes  such  as  Iberville,  Longueuil,  Sainte-Helene,  Bien- 
ville,  Chateaugay,  and  the  rest;  and  omitting  a  throng  of 
others  like  Goupil,  Couture,  Lalande,  and  the  wonderful 
Christian  Indian  boy  Armand  Jean,  who  reflected  honor  on 
the  great  Cardinal  Richelieu  after  whom  he  was  named,  it 
will  be  sufficient  to  recall  the  memory  of  the  glorious  sixteen 
under  Daulac  or  Dollard,  only  one  of  whom  was  above 
thirty,  who  in  spite  of  their  youth  and  inexperience  with- 
stood eight  hundred  Iroquois,  and  by  the  sacrifice  of  their 
lives  —  for  every  one  fell  —  saved  New  France  from 
utter  destruction.  Jean  Nicolet  was  the  leader  of  this  glori- 
ous line. 

The  first  test  to  which  he  was  put  was  his  appointment 
as  interpreter  on  Allumette  Island,  far  up  the  Ottawa.  No 
doubt,  like  any  other  healthy  boy,  he  was  fascinated  by  the 
wild  beauty  of  the  region  through  which  he  passed  on  his 
first  journey  into  the  depths  of  the  country.  He  had  never 
seen  anything  equal  to  the  Rideau,  as  it  dropped  curtain-like 
into  the  mighty  river  beneath;  nothing  so  terrible  as  the 
Chaudiere,  where  the  Indians,  descending  or  ascending  the 
stream,  performed  their  incantations  to  propitiate  the  evil 
spirits  that  dwelt  in  the  boiling  waters;  nothing  so  startling 
as  the  angry  leap  of  the  waters  over  the  rocks  of  the  Calu- 
met, where  to-day  stands,  under  the  pines,  the  gleaming 
marble  shaft  a  la  memoir e  de  Cadieux,  who  in  his  days 
was  to  be  another  Nicolet.  All  this  doubtless  amazed  and 
delighted  him,  but  the  poetry  of  the  life  was  soon  dissi- 
pated when  he  found  himself  in  the  grossness  and  squalor 
and  filth,  both  physical  and  moral,  of  the  Algonquin  wig- 
wams. The  aborigines  were  far  from  being  the  noble  crea- 


3i6  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

tures  depicted  by  Fenimore  Cooper  and  other  romancers, 
but  were  steeped  in  the  foulest  vices;  and  again  and  again 
the  missionaries  protested  against  leaving  young  and  un- 
protected boys  in  such  surroundings,  without  any  religious 
assistance  to  keep  them  from  becoming  as  bad  as  the  sav- 
ages themselves.  But  the  traders  whose  employee  Nicolet 
was,  considered  moral  disasters  of  very  little  importance  if 
the  storehouses  at  Quebec  were  filled  with  furs. 

In  that  place  young  Nicolet  remained  for  two  years,  com- 
pletely mastering  the  various  Algonquin  dialects,  and  exer- 
cising such  an  influence  over  his  Indian  friends  that  he  was 
able  to  lead  four  hundred  of  their  braves  down  to  the  Mo- 
hawk to  make  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  terrible  Iroquois. 

Of  course,  this  embassy  was  due,  in  large  measure  at 
least,  to  Champlain,  and  it  goes  far  to  exculpate  him  from 
the  charge,  so  frequently  urged  against  him,  that  the  long 
series  of  Iroquois  wars  were  the  result  of  his  indiscretion. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  battles  of  Lake  Champlain  and  Cap 
au  Massacre  were  unavoidable,  for  the  Iroquois  were  actu- 
ally invading  the  country  and  had  to  be  repelled,  if  an  indis- 
criminate massacre  of  red  and  white  men  alike  was  to  be 
averted.  To  have  made  a  treaty  of  peace  so  soon  after  the 
battle  of  Oneida  clearly  shows  the  falsity  of  the  accusation 
that  the  Iroquois  nourished  an  implacable  hatred  of  the 
French.  After  Nicolet's  visit  to  them  the  incursions  ceased, 
and  were  renewed  only  when  the  incompetency  and  blunder- 
ing of  some  of  Champlain's  successors  prompted  the  In- 
dians to  dig  up  the  hatchet  and  renew  their  depredations. 

Nicolet  remained  for  two  years  on  Allumette  Island,  and 
was  then  transferred  to  the  Nippisirien  country,  which  the 
missionaries  called  the  land  of  the  sorcerers,  because,  day 
and  night,  the  drum  of  the  medicine-men  was  heard  on  the 
lake  or  in  the  forests  conjuring  the  evil  spirits.  Evidently 
a  great  change  had  been  wrought  in  the  disposition  of  the 
Indians  of  those  regions,  and  it  was  most  likely  the  result 


TABLET  IN  HONOR  OF  JEAN  NICOLET    317 

of  Nicolet's  skill  in  managing  them,  for  only  a  few  years 
before,  Champlain  had  been  warned  that  it  was  as  much 
as  his  life  was  worth  to  venture  among  them;  but  young 
Nicolet  not  only  established  a  trading  post  on  the  lake,  but 
was  adopted  by  the  tribe,  became  one  of  the  great  chiefs, 
with  a  voice  in  their  most  solemn  councils,  and  participated 
in  all  their  hunts  and  wars  and  battles. 

There  he  lived  for  nine  consecutive  years,  undergoing  all 
the  hardships  of  the  savages,  and  frequently  passing  two 
or  three  days  without  a  morsel  to  eat,  and  on  one  occasion 
supporting  life  for  five  or  six  weeks  by  gnawing  the  bark 
of  the  forest  trees.  He  kept  a  record  of  these  adventures 
and  gave  it  to  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  but  we  have  been  unable 
to  lay  hands  on  it. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  an  overwhelming  disaster 
befell  the  colony  in  the  capture  of  what  was  supposed  to  be 
the  stronghold  of  Quebec.  In  1628,  while  Champlain  was 
anxiously  waiting  for  supplies  from  Europe  to  stave  off 
starvation  from  the  garrison  and  the  colony,  an  English  ship 
under  the  famous  Kirke  appeared  in  the  river  and  demanded 
the  surrender  of  the  fort.  The  garrison  had  absolutely  no 
food  at  the  time,  and  there  were  but  fifty  pounds  of  powder 
in  the  magazine,  but  Champlain  defied  the  enemy  to  make 
the  assault.  Astounded  by  the  answer,  Kirke  actually  lifted 
anchor  and  sailed  down  the  river;  but  the  next  year  three 
ships  appeared,  and  the  French  flag  was  hauled  from  the' 
citadel,  and  the  banner  of  England  floated  in  its  place. 

It  was  on  this  occasion  that  the  dastardly  character  of 
Brule  and  Marsollet  displayed  itself.  They  had  revealed 
the  helpless  condition  of  the  garrison  to  the  enemy  and  were 
on  the  very  ships  that  had  come  to  demand  the  surrender 
of  the  city.  Absolutely  unlike  them  was  Jean  Nicolet.  He 
remained  at  his  post  among  the  Nippisiriens  and  waited 
for  better  times. 

In  1632  Champlain  came  back  again,  no  longer  in  the 


3i 8  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

fetters  of  the  trading  company,  but  as  the  lieutenant  of 
Richelieu  and  the  first  Governor  of  New  France.  After  a 
fight  of  twenty-four  years  he  had  triumphed,  and  only  then 
did  the  colony  on  the  St.  Lawrence  begin  to  live.  Nicolet 
was  recalled  from  the  interior  and  given  charge  of  the  trad- 
ing post  at  Three  Rivers. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  he  was  commissioned  by 
Champlain  to  discover  the  great  river  that  was  supposed  to 
empty  into  the  Western  Sea.  He  was  thus  about  to  realize 
the  great  dream  that  had  haunted  the  imagination  of 
Europe  for  centuries  about  the  passage  to  China  or  Cathay, 
and  which  had  assumed  a  new  form  after  the  St.  Lawrence 
and  the  Great  Lakes  had  been  explored.  The  sapient  geog- 
raphers had  concluded  that  as  there  was  a  mighty  river  flow- 
ing from  the  centre  of  the  continent  there  must  be  a  corre- 
sponding one  flowing  west  to  preserve  the  equilibrium  of  the 
sphere.  To  find  it  Nicolet  set  out  from  Three  Rivers,  and 
that  was  the  reason  why  his  journeyings  led  him  to  the 
Island  of  Mackinac.  He  came  dressed  as  a  Chinese  man- 
darin, in  a  gorgeous  robe  of  damask  which  was  richly  em- 
broidered with  figures  of  birds  and  of  flowers,  in  the  hope 
of  awakening  some  long-buried  atavistic  memories  in  the 
minds  of  the  savages  who  were  supposed  by  the  learned  men 
of  the  times  to  be  of  Asiatic  origin.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
is  difficult  to  conceive  that  either  Champlain  or  Nicolet 
shared  in  this  delusion.  They  both  knew  the  Indians  too 
well.  Champlain  had  passed  a  whole  winter  among  the 
Hurons,  and  his  account  of  the  habits  and  character  of  those 
savages  is  to-day  a  classic  for  the  ethnological  student. 
Nicolet  had  lived  eleven  years  among  the  Algonquins  and 
Nippisiriens,  and  he  also  was  perfectly  well  aware  that, 
apart  from  some  mythological  nonsense  about  their  origin, 
there  was  no  tradition  of  anything  whatever  connecting 
them  with  the  Chinese. 

Indeed  it  is  quite  possible  that  it  was  merely  to  satisfy 


TABLET  IN  HONOR  OF  JEAN  NICOLET     319 

some  theorist  in  France  or  Quebec  that  the  masquerade 
was  adopted.  The  report  of  his  coming  as  the  great  repre- 
sentative of  the  white  men  to  arrange  for  a  treaty  of  peace 
was  of  course  rapidly  spread  among  the  tribes,  and  some- 
where on  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan  four  or  five  thousand 
Indians  assembled  to  meet  him.  It  was  an  amazing  spec- 
tacle for  them.  The  white  man  whom  doubtless  many  of 
them  had  known  at  Allumette  and  Lake  Nippising  was  no 
longer  in  his  usual  attire  of  a  hunter,  but  in  a  splendid  robe 
such  as  they  had  never  seen  before.  On  either  side  of  him 
great  poles  had  been  erected  on  which  numberless  presents 
were  displayed.  In  his  hands  he  held  two  ponderous  horse 
pistols,  and  after  haranguing  them  in  their  own  language 
and  expatiating  on  the  desirability  of  a  lasting  and  universal 
peace  with  the  supreme  chief  at  Quebec,  he  lifted  up  his 
instruments  of  war  towards  the  sky.  A  terrible  explosion 
followed,  and  the  squaws,  and  perhaps  many  of  the  braves, 
scampered  away  in  terror  from  the  mighty  man  who  held 
the  thunders  of  heaven  in  his  hands.  They  soon  recovered 
their  senses,  however,  and  as  no  one  was  injured  they  re- 
turned to  express  their  satisfaction  with  the  proposals  of 
peace,  and  the  presents  which  he  had  come  to  offer.  But 
from  none  of  them  could  he  learn  anything  of  China,  nor 
did  he  find  the  great  river  that  flowed  into  the  Pacific, 
though  he  reported,  on  his  return  to  Quebec,  that  a  few 
days'  journey  would  have  carried  him  thither.  It  is  some- 
what surprising  that  he  did  not  continue  his  search,  in  that 
event,  but  possibly  it  was  because  the  river  they  spoke  of 
took  a  southerly  and  not  a  westerly  course,  and  could  not 
therefore  be  the  one  he  was  sent  out  to  find.  Had  he  done 
so  he  would  have  anticipated  Marquette  by  nearly  forty 
years. 

This  was  in  1634.  On  Christmas  Day,  1635,  the  illus- 
trious Champlain,  worn  out  by  his  life  of  hardships  and  per- 
haps by  the  worry  which  he  had  been  subjected  to  from  the 


320  VARIOUS   DISCOURSES 

first  day  he  built  his  miserable  hut  at  the  foot  of  the  rock  of 
Quebec,  at  last  went  to  his  well-merited  reward.  He  was 
succeeded  by  Montmagny,  whose  name,  Onontio,  an  Indian 
translation  of  Great  Mountain,  remained  as  the  descriptive 
designation  of  all  subsequent  governors  of  Quebec.  He 
was  a  worthy  successor  of  Champlain,  whom  he  took  for  a 
model,  and  during  his  long  tenure  of  office  did  efficient  work 
in  building  up  the  colony,  in  spite  of  the  apathy  of  the  home 
Government,  which  left  him  almost  without  resources. 
Louis  XIV  was  too  busy  with  his  European  enemies  to  find 
time  enough  to  learn  of  the  importance  of  his  colonial 
possessions. 

At  last  someone  stirred  up  the  Iroquois,  and  then  Canada 
entered  upon  the  bloody  epoch  of  her  history.  Three 
Rivers,  where  Nicolet  was  living,  was  the  centre  of  attack, 
and  the  St.  Lawrence  at  that  point  was  swarming  with  Iro- 
quois in  war  paint.  Brebeuf  had  come  down  from  the 
upper  country  and  narrowly  escaped  with  his  life  on  his 
way  to  Quebec.  The  war,  however,  was  not  precisely 
against  the  whites.  It  was  an  attack  on  their  old  foes,  the 
Algonquins,  but  the  French  of  course  were  involved.  It 
was  at  this  juncture  that  young  Marguerie  returned  from 
captivity  as  an  Iroquois  envoy,  and  was  sent  to  the 
French  fort  to  arrange  a  treaty  of  peace.  But  in  spite  of 
this,  warlike  preparations  were  soon  made,  forts  were  built 
on  the  other  side  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  Montmagny  came 
up  from  Quebec  to  direct  the  fight  if  it  should  assume  large 
proportions.  There  were  raids  and  captures  here  and  there, 
and  in  the  melee  we  see  the  figure  of  Nicolet  constantly  ap- 
pearing. He  with  Father  Ragueneau  crossed  and  recrossed 
the  St.  Lawrence  again  and  again,  entering  the  forts  of  the 
Iroquois,  at  the  risk  of  their  lives,  to  plead  for  a  recon- 
ciliation, until  finally,  after  some  show  of  fight  on  the  part 
of  the  invaders,  a  temporary  calm  resulted.  This  was  in 
the  year  1641. 


Soon  afterward  Nicolet  was  summoned  to  Quebec  to  take 
the  place  of  his  brother-in-law,  Le  Tardiff,  as  chief  official 
of  the  trading  company.  He  was  hardly  there  a  month, 
when  news  came  down  from  Three  Rivers  that  a  Sokoki 
Indian  was  about  to  be  put  to  death  by  the  Algonquins. 
This  meant  a  renewal  of  hostilities,  for  the  Sokokis  of 
Maine  were  allies  of  the  Iroquois,  and  the  execution  of  the 
captive  had  to  be  prevented  at  all  hazards.  It  was  then 
October  27;  the  ice  was  forming  in  the  river,  the  night  was 
coming  on,  but  without  a  moment's  hesitation  Nicolet  leaped 
aboard  a  shallop  that  was  making  for  Sillery.  While  round- 
ing the  point,  a  squall  struck  the  boat,  and  in  a  moment  the 
crew  were  struggling  with  icy  waters.  One  by  one  they  dis- 
appeared in  the  dark  river,  though  only  a  short  distance 
from  shore.  Nicolet  and  de  Chavigny  were  soon  the  only 
ones  left.  At  last,  chilled  by  the  bitter  cold  and  feeling  his 
strength  completely  gone,  he  called  out  to  his  friend,  "  Make 
for  the  shore,  de  Chavigny,  you  can  swim.  Bid  good-bye 
to  my  wife  and  children.  I  am  going  to  God."  The  waves 
closed  over  him,  and  he  was  never  seen  again.  De  Cha- 
vigny succeeded  in  reaching  the  shore  and,  more  dead  than 
alive,  staggered  into  the  Jesuit  house  at  Sillery,  where  he 
told  the  dreadful  occurrence  to  Father  de  Brebeuf.  The 
news  brought  consternation  to  the  colony.  The  Indians 
especially  were  alarmed,  for  they  had  lost  a  friend,  a  pro- 
tector, and  a  father,  and  they  ran  like  demented  people  up 
and  down  the  bank  of  the  river,  crying,  "  Achirra !  Achirra  ! 
Shall  we  never  see  thee  more?  "  The  whites  too  had  rea- 
son to  fear.  No  one  exercised  such  an  influence  over  the 
natives  as  Nicolet,  for  he  bent  them  without  difficulty  to  his 
will,  at  any  moment  and  for  all  kinds  of  enterprises.  As  a 
Christian,  the  missionaries  bear  the  splendid  testimony  that 
his  virtues  were  those  of  the  apostolic  times  and  that  even 
the  most  devoted  priest  might  take  him  as  a  model  of  piety 
and  self-sacrifice.  But  perhaps  the  best  description  of  his 


322  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

character  in  this  respect  may  be  found  in  the  list  of  books 
contained  in  his  little  library  at  Quebec.  They  were :  "  The 
Metamorphosis  of  Ovid";  "The  Relation  of  1637"; 
"  Portuguese  Discoveries  in  the  West  Indies  " ;  "  Collection 
of  Gazettes  from  1634";  "The  Art  of  Fencing";  "In- 
ventory of  Science  ";  "  History  of  St.  Ursula  ";  "  Medita- 
tions on  the  Life  of  Christ " ;  "  The  Secretary  of  the 
Court";  "The  Clock  of  Devotion";  "The  Way  to  Live 
for  God";  "Elements  of  Logic";  "The  Holy  Duties  of 
a  Devout  Life";  "History  of  Portugal";  "Missal"; 
"  Life  of  the  Redeemer  of  the  World  " ;  "  History  of  the 
West  Indies  ";  "  The  Lives  of  the  Saints  "  in  folio. 

Such  was  Jean  Nicolet ;  a  man  who  occupied  a  very  humble 
place  even  in  the  miserable  colony  of  Quebec,  but  who,  by 
the  force  of  his  own  irreproachable  character,  exercised  a 
most  extraordinary  influence  for  good  both  among  the  colo- 
nists and  the  natives;  a  man  who  from  the  very  beginning 
of  his  career,  though  thrown  into  surroundings  which  had 
wrecked  the  lives  of  many  of  his  compatriots  and  had 
changed  them  from  the  representatives  of  most  excellent 
families  into  wild  and  depraved  coureurs  de  bois,  kept  his 
own  virtue  untarnished.  He  was  intrusted  by  his  superiors 
with  the  most  important  missions,  and  was  admired  and 
loved  by  such  men  as  Brebeuf,  Ragueneau,  Jogues,  and  in- 
deed by  all  the  missionaries.  In  brief  he  was  a  man  of  the 
world,  who  at  every  stage  of  his  short  career  would  have 
been  able  to  utter  the  same  words  that  left  his  lips  when 
the  waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence  closed  over  him :  "  I  am 
going  to  God." 

Michigan  may  well  be  proud  of  the  first  white  man  who 
set  foot  on  its  territory. 


The  Marist  Centennial 

St  John  the  Baptist's  Church,  New  York,  June  4,  1917 

AJTUDENT  of  chronology  might  find  a  singular 
and  suggestive  or  rather  a  corrective  coincidence 
in  the  fact  that  the  year  in  which  Marcellin  Cham- 
pagnat,  the  saintly  Founder  of  the  Society  of  the  Marist 
Brothers,  was  born,  is  the  very  one  that  inaugurated  the 
most  abominable  epoch  in  history.  It  was  1789,  the  first 
year  of  the  terrible  French  Revolution,  which  let  loose  on  the 
world  the  most  appalling  flood  of  moral,  religious,  and  polit- 
ical turpitude  that  ever  disgraced  and  degraded  humanity. 
It  was  all  the  more  awful  that  it  emanated  from  a  race  which 
had  been  once  conspicuous  for  its  chivalry,  its  civilization, 
and  its  Christianity.  He  showed  that  Faith  still  lived. 

A  French  historian  does  not  hesitate  to  say  that  whereas 
in  Pagan  Rome  two  centuries  of  frightful  despotism,  reach- 
ing from  Caracalla  to  Heliogabalus,  were  required  to  com- 
plete its  catalogue  of  crimes,  one  year  of  the  Revolution 
sufficed  to  surpass  in  horror  anything  that  the  imagination 
could  conceive  of  the  capabilities  of  unrestrained  paganism. 
There  were  stationary  guillotines  in  the  cities  and  portable 
ones  in  the  country  places;  there  were  massacres  at  Arras 
and  Nimes,  drownings  at  Nantes,  fusillades  at  Toulon, 
burnings  at  Lyons,  starvation  at  Toulouse,  judicial  murders 
at  Angers,  until  at  last  a  huge  hecatomb  was  piled  up  of 
priests,  plebeians,  and  patricians,  whose  blood  flowed  like 
water,  and  whose  numbers  were  like  the  sands  of  the  sea. 
A  constitution  was  conceived  which  created  a  reservoir 
whose  sanguinary  floods  inundated  the  earth. 

In  Nantes  alone,  Carrier  murdered  thirty  thousand 
people;  there  was  a  general  massacre  of  priests  in  the 


324  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

prisons  of  Paris  which  was  continued  for  days  by  order  of 
the  Government;  fifty  thousand  nuns  were  flung  out  of  their 
convents  and  left  homeless  beggars  on  the  highways  of  the 
world;  ten  thousand  priests  were  banished  from  their  coun- 
try, crushed  to  the  earth  or  under  it  by  every  possible  ac- 
cumulation of  brutality  and  barbarity.  Many  were  im- 
prisoned or  carried  across  the  ocean  in  the  pestilential  holds 
of  rotten  ships,  and  driven  into  the  poisonous  forests  of 
Guiana  to  perish;  indecent  orgies  which  would  have  been 
infamous  in  pagan  times  were  permitted  and  promoted  in 
the  public  squares  of  Paris  and  elsewhere;  the  heads  of 
Louis  XVI  and  Marie  Antoinette  rolled  at  the  feet  of  the 
frenzied  populace,  who  shrieked  with  delight  at  the  hideous 
regicide;  churches  were  defiled  and  dishonored;  the  total 
extinction  of  Christianity  was  officially  decreed,  and  a  medal 
struck  to  commemorate  the  event;  the  "  year  of  the  Lord  " 
was  expunged  from  the  calendar  and  replaced  by  "  the  year 
of  the  Republic  " ;  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  with  broken  health 
and  a  broken  heart  was  dragged  as  a  degraded  prisoner 
through  the  cities  of  France  till  he  expired,  and  the  God- 
dess of  Reason  was  adored  in  the  Cathedral  of  Notre 
Dame.  They  have  atoned  for  much  of  it  since. 

We  have  enumerated  these  horrors,  though  they  are 
among  the  commonplaces  of  history,  in  order  to  bring  out 
in  stronger  relief  the  countless  and  almost  insuperable  ob- 
stacles that  stood  in  the  way  of  the  initial  educational 
efforts  of  the  Society  whose  Jubilee  we  are  celebrating  to- 
day. It  will  explain  the  crudeness  of  the  instrumentalities 
which  the  first  members  of  the  Congregation  were  com- 
pelled to  employ,  and  at  the  same  time  will  help  us  to  ap- 
preciate the  greatness  of  their  achievements,  and  compel 
us  to  ask  what  they  would  have  done  if  the  splendid  appli- 
ances of  to-day  had  been  at  their  disposal. 

The  predecessors  of  the  Marist  Brothers  of  to-day 
achieved  their  triumph,  not  only  by  willingly  accepting  the 


THE    MARIST    CENTENNIAL  325 

hard  conditions  in  which  they  found  themselves  in  the  be- 
ginning, but  by  regarding  it  as  a  privilege  and  an  honor  to 
have  been  called  to  battle  for  the  regeneration  of  their 
country  and  the  return  of  the  people  to  God.  They  joined 
in  the  fray  because  they  had  the  vision  of  the  Divine  Teacher 
before  their  eyes;  and  they  followed  His  counsel  to  seek 
first  the  Kingdom  of  God,  knowing  that  all  else  would  be 
added  to  them;  they  grasped  the  significance  of  His  words, 
"  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me,"  and  for  that  rea- 
son they  consecrated  themselves  to  the  teaching  of  the 
primary  schools;  they  heeded  the  warning  that  God  resists 
the  proud  and  gives  grace  to  the  humble,  and  hence  they 
assumed  designedly  the  title  of  "  Little,"  which  they  put  in 
their  rule-book  again  and  again  and  made  their  badge  and 
their  battle-cry.  In  a  word,  they  kept  constantly  in  their 
minds  and  their  hearts  that  greatness  grows  from  littleness 
just  as  the  vast  universe  comes  from  nothing  by  the  power 
of  God. 

These  traits  are  a  legitimate  inheritance  from  the  saintly 
man  to  whom  they  owe  their  existence  as  a  religious  Con- 
gregation. We  do  not,  however,  propose  to  consider  him 
under  the  aspect  of  holiness,  but  rather  as  one  of  the  great 
educators  of  the  nineteenth  century,  though  possibly  his 
name  would  not  appear  in  any  of  the  pedagogical  histories 
of  that  period.  Indeed,  they  would  not  have  been  able  to 
comprehend  the  motives  of  his  action  and  would  stand 
aghast  at  the  inspired  audacity  which  prompted  him  habitu- 
ally to  essay  the  impossible. 

During  all  the  terrors  of  the  Revolution  and  up  to  the 
time  of  Napoleon's  coronation  Champagnat  was  living  in 
an  obscure  and  out-of-the-way  hamlet  somewhere  in  the 
vast  diocese  of  Lyons.  He  was  almost  absolutely  without 
any  education.  He  had  been  only  a  single  day  at  school, 
and  refused  to  return  because  one  of  the  scholars  had  been 
cuffed  by  the  "master";  and  a  harsh  word  from  a  priest 


326  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

also  shocked  his  supersensitive  soul.  The  memory  of  both 
of  these  incidents  remained  fixed  in  his  mind  for  life,  and 
he  subsequently  made  it  a  rule  for  his  followers  that  they 
should  be  conspicuous  for  their  gentleness  and  self-control 
in  dealing  with  their  pupils. 

His  absen'ce  from  school  of  course  left  him  in  ignorance, 
but  book  learning  counted  for  little  in  those  tumultuous 
days.  However,  it  is  more  than  likely  that  a  holy  nun  who 
had  taken  refuge  with  his  family  during  the  Revolution  in- 
structed him  to  some  extent.  At  all  events,  she  and  his 
devoted  mother  sedulously  cultivated  what  is  of  fundamen- 
tal importance  in  the  training  of  a  boy,  namely,  his  purity, 
his  piety,  his  reverence  for  authority,  and  his  love  for  reli- 
gion. The  rest  would  come  afterward. 

In  view  of  what  he  subsequently  became,  it  is  singular 
that  he  never  had  or  never  manifested  any  desire  to  em- 
brace an  ecclesiastical  career  until  he  was  interrogated  by 
a  professor  of  theology  who  visited  the  family  in  quest  of 
possible  candidates  for  the  depleted  ministry  of  France. 
The  visitor  had  never  seen  the  boy  before,  and  was  prob- 
ably as  much  surprised  as  anyone  when  Marcellin  assented 
to  the  proposal.  In  other  circumstances  it  would  be  most 
reprehensible  to  decide  a  vocation  to  the  priesthood  in  such 
an  offhand  fashion,  but  in  this  instance  it  was  happily  fol- 
lowed by  good  results  which,  however,  could  not  have  been 
foreseen.  His  father  set  his  face  against  the  project  for 
the  reason  that,  though  the  lad  had  shown  some  little  busi- 
ness ability,  he  was  considered  by  his  family  as  somewhat 
dull  of  perception  and  absolutely  unfit  for  sustained  and 
especially  for  serious  study.  Nevertheless  the  boy  per- 
sisted, and  by  way  of  trial  was  sent  to  an  uncle  who  was 
credited  with  some  degree  of  education,  but  at  the  end  of 
a  year  the  pupil  was  voted  a  failure. 

That  did  not  daunt  him,  however,  and  in  some  way  or 
other,  though  already  seventeen  years  of  age,  he  contrived 


THE    MARIST    CENTENNIAL  327 

to  gain  admission  to  the  Little  Seminary  of  Verrieres  and 
was  placed  in  one  of  the  lowest  classes.  At  the  time  he  was 
head  and  shoulders  over  his  companions  in  size,  and  his 
awkward,  ungainly  rusticity,  as  well  as  his  ill-fitting  and 
curious  attire,  coupled  with  shyness  and  timidity,  made  him 
the  butt  of  the  school.  Nevertheless  he  was  undisturbed 
and  kept  doggedly  at  his  task,  studying  commonly  till  mid- 
night, and  finally  meeting  with  such  success  that  by  the 
middle  of  the  year  he  stood  at  the  head  of  his  class.  At 
the  end  of  the  term  he  passed  over  the  intervening  grade 
and  entered  the  one  above.  He  had  made  two  years  in  one. 
He  had  still  much  to  learn,  however,  for  he  spent  seven 
years  at  Verrieres,  and  it  was  not  until  1812,  when  he  was 
twenty-three  years  of  age,  that  he  began  a  four  years'  course 
of  philosophy  and  theology  at  the  Seminary  of  Lyons. 

Here  we  are  again  face  to  face  with  the  unexpected. 
With  a  number  of  the  most  fervent  Seminarians  he  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  forming  a  Religious  Order,  though 
neither  he  nor  they  had  ever  seen  one  -except  in  some  recent 
tentative  essays.  The  Jesuits  had  been  expelled  from 
France  as  early  as  1764,  and  that  was  a  prelude  to  the 
extirpation  of  the  others,  while  the  Revolution  swept  away 
what  remnants  still  lingered  in  the  country. 

Their  idea  was  a  Society  exclusively  made  up  of  priests; 
but  Champagnat  insisted  on  having  lay  brothers  in  the 
Order  who  were  to  be  occupied  chiefly  in  teaching  Cate- 
chism and  the  elementary  branches  of  learning.  Probably 
the  others  saw,  or  thought  they  saw,  the  hopelessness  of 
the  task  and  let  him  have  his  way;  but  Champagnat  was  the 
Conqueror  of  the  Impossible.  He  achieved  his  object, 
though  not  in  conjunction  with  the  Marist  priests,  who  are 
distinct  from  the  Marist  Brothers. 

On  July  22,  1816,  he  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood 
at  Lyons  by  Bishop  Dubourg  of  New  Orleans,  who  offici- 
ated in  place  of  Cardinal  Fesch.  It  was  another  coinci- 


328  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

dence,  inasmuch  as  Bishop  Dubourg  was  a  distinguished 
member  of  the  Hierarchy  which  was  established  in  the 
United  States  in  the  very  year  of  Champagnat's  birth;  for 
Bishop  Carroll  was  preconized  in  1789.  So  that  if  Cham- 
pagnat  had  the  terrible  thunder  cloud  of  the  Revolution 
darkening  his  birthday  and  had  heard  in  his  early  youth 
that  the  Church  would  never  again  exist  in  France,  he  had 
now  above  him,  as  he  knelt  in  the  sanctuary,  the  splendor 
of  a  new  Church  that  was  already  springing  into  life  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic  and  would  with  a  divine  rapidity 
extend  over  the  vast  continent  till  it  reached  the  ocean 
beyond. 

He  was  assigned  to  the  mountain  parish  of  Lavala,  with 
its  rugged  cliffs,  its  precipices,  its  deep  and  dangerous  ra- 
vines, its  houses  perched  on  almost  inaccessible  heights  and 
often  miles  away  from  the  church  —  a  post  which  involved 
continual  hardship,  suffering,  and  self-sacrifice.  Added  to 
this  the  people  were  ignorant  and  rude,  and  had  forgotten, 
if  indeed  they  had  ever  heard,  the  sublime  teachings  of 
their  religion;  for  an  entire  generation  had  grown  up 
since  1789. 

Such  a  field  of  labor  was  to  all  appearances  not  promis- 
ing for  a  future  Founder  of  a  Society  of  teachers.  But  he 
made  it  serve  that  end,  and  while  transforming  the  popu- 
lation intrusted  to  him  he  never  lost  sight  of  the  ideal  of 
his  life:  The  Little  Brothers  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary. 
Indeed  it  was  the  prevailing  ignorance  that  forced  him  to 
persevere. 

As  the  teachers  were  to  be  primarily  religious  teachers, 
it  was  necessary  that  their  model  and  guide  should  be 
equipped  in  advance  with  all  the  qualities  they  were  de- 
signed to  imitate.  Hence  in  the  providence  of  God  there 
developed  in  his  soul,  to  a  remarkable  degree,  a  spirit  of 
faith,  humility,  confidence  in  God,  prayer,  self-sacrifice,  and 
a  mortification  which,  though  it  never  obtruded  itself  on 


THE    MARIST    CENTENNIAL  329 

others,  left  its  impress  on  every  action  of  his  life  and 
always  appealed  to  his  followers. 

His  spiritual  progress  in  this  lonely  place  is  all  the  more 
surprising  because,  buried  as  he  was  in  the  mountains,  de- 
barred to  a  great  extent  from  intercourse  with  the  world 
outside,  he  was  compelled  to  be  more  or  less  his  own  spirit- 
ual director.  For  that  reason  the  scrutiny  of  the  movements 
of  his  soul  was  searching  and  incessant,  and,  with  what 
seems  like  a  characteristic  Gallic  fondness  for  minuteness 
and  multiplicity  of  details,  he  was  continually  drawing  up 
long  lists  of  observances  for  the  various  phases  of  his  daily 
work.  In  one  instance  there  are  as  many  as  twenty-six  dif- 
ferent resolutions  which  he  sets  himself  to  fulfil  —  a  super- 
abundance which  would  have  been  bewildering  for  anyone 
else,  but  which  his  concentrated  and  persistent  personality 
pursued  to  the  end. 

At  last  he  addressed  himself  to  his  task  of  establishing 
his  educational  corps,  in  a  way,  however,  that  would  make 
a  modern  student  of  pedagogy  gasp  in  amazement.  But 
there  was  nothing  else  for  him  to  do,  and  so  he  took  the 
rough  material  at  hand  and  set  to  work.  The  result  was 
crude,  indeed,  but  it  was  like  the  precious  crayon  sketch 
which  an  artist  makes  before  he  puts  on  the  canvas  the  per- 
fect picture  that  is  already  glowing  in  his  mind.  His  first 
associates  are  two  young  men  of  the  neighborhood,  both 
of  them  as  ignorant  of  books  as  he  himself  had  been  when 
he  began  his  career.  He  teaches  them  reading  and  writing, 
makes  them  live  together  in  an  old  house  near  the  presby- 
tery, arranges  for  them  to  earn  their  living  by  manual  labor, 
binds  them  to  stability  by  some  sort  of  promise,  instructs 
them  in  prayer  and  mortification,  leads  them  frequently  to 
the  altar  for  Holy  Communion,  gathers  the  children  around 
them  for  instruction,  and  with  the  assistance  of  a  teaching 
brother  whose  community  had  been  dissolved  by  the  Revo- 
lution, succeeds  in  giving  his  neophytes  some  idea  of  how 


330  VARIOUS   DISCOURSES 

to  manage  a  class,  and  then,  on  January  2,  1817,  he  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  remarkably  successful  Society  of  the 
Marist  Brothers. 

Modern  theorists  who  demand  millions  for  the  establish- 
ment of  even  primary  schools  would  scoff  at  this  kind  of 
educational  equipment,  and  yet  this  solitary  missionary's 
idea  of  education  was  the  correct  one.  Of  course  he  did 
not  invent  it.  It  is  as  old  as  the  Church. 

Success  in  school  work  depends  on  the  personality  of  the 
men  who  teach,  the  character  of  the  matter  that  is  taught, 
and  the  correctness  of  the  method  that  is  followed.  Hence 
Champagnat  in  the  midst  of  the  mountains  of  the  Cevennes 
will  have  only  the  best  teachers  he  can  find.  They  have  not 
a  superabundance  of  worldly  knowledge,  but  they  are  men 
who  had  set  aside  all  worldly  ambition,  which  was  not  much 
in  this  case,  it  is  true,  but  even  St.  Peter  gave  up  only  his 
nets.  They  are  still  in  the  full  flush  of  youth,  but  are  pure 
of  heart  and  of  stainless  life;  they  love  their  fellow-men 
and  will  accept  any  sacrifice  to  serve  them;  they  seclude 
themselves  from  the  world  so  as  to  better  prepare  them- 
selves to  teach ;  they  fast,  they  pray,  they  observe  silence  at 
stated  times;  they  keep  the  Commandments  of  God;  they 
frequent  the  Sacraments;  they  not  only  fulfil  their  duty  to 
their  Creator,  but  perform  works  of  supererogation;  they 
ask  no  compensation  but  the  joy  of  doing  something  for 
God.  Such  teachers  could  not  fail  to  improve  the  minds 
and  morals  of  their  pupils,  and  that  is  the  purpose  of 
education. 

Secondly,  the  knowledge  which  they  have  to  impart  is 
of  the  very  highest  order,  and  in  this  connection  I  recall 
a  certain  conversation  in  which  a  group  of  cultured  gentle- 
men were  discussing  the  great  vital  questions  which  always 
persist  in  thrusting  themselves  on  the  minds  of  all  kinds 
of  people,  religious  or  otherwise  —  what  is  man's  origin, 
his  destiny,  the  character  of  his  soul,  the  moral  law,  the 


THE    MARIST    CENTENNIAL  331 

other  life,  etc.  They  were  all  at  odds  with  each  other,  or 
admitted  their  ignorance.  The  only  one  who  could  offer 
anything  like  a  satisfactory  solution  of  their  doubts  was  a 
Catholic  lawyer,  and  when  he  was  asked  where  he  acquired 
his  information  he  called  up  a  little  lad  and  put  to  him  the 
first  questions  of  the  Catechism:  "  Who  made  you?  "  The 
ready  answer  was:  "God."  "Why  did  he  make  you?" 
"  That  I  might  know  Him,  love  Him,  and  serve  Him  in  this 
world  and  be  happy  with  Him  forever  in  the  next."  "  In 
what  is  your  soul  like  to  God?  "  "  Because  my  soul  is  a 
spirit,  endowed  with  understanding,  free  will,  and  is  im- 
mortal, that  is  to  say,  can  never  die,"  etc. 

The  effect  was  astounding,  and  everyone  asked  in  amaze- 
ment where  the  child  had  learned  so  much  and  how  he  was 
so  familiar  with  the  greatest  and  profoundest  problems 
that  perplex  and  confound  the  non-Catholic  philosophers 
of  to-day.  It  was  clear  to  them,  if  they  thought  of  it,  that 
the  commonest  Catholic  school  is  provided  with  educational 
material  which  is  not  to  be  found  in  many  of  the  great 
universities. 

Finally,  the  method  employed  by  Catholic  educators  is 
the  only  one  that  conforms  to  the  rules  of  reasonable  peda- 
gogy. For  it  is  surely  a  better  and  greater  achievement  to 
impart  knowledge  about  God,  about  the  soul,  about  its  in- 
telligence, its  freedom  of  will,  its  immortality,  the  moral 
law,  the  purpose  of  our  existence,  etc.,  than  to  confine  one's 
self  to  the  exclusive  teaching  of  reading,  writing,  and  arith- 
metic: one  is  abstract,  spiritual,  supernatural;  the  other  is 
concrete  and  gross;  one  is  intellectual,  the  other  largely 
material  and  can  be  performed  by  mechanical  contrivances. 
Moreover,  spiritual  knowledge  is,  in  the  highest  and 
noblest  sense,  more  utilitarian;  for  the  knowledge  of  man's 
dignity,  his  obligations,  his  destiny,  is  of  infinitely  greater 
use  to  the  nation,  to  the  family,  and  to  the  individual  than 
readiness  in  the  three  R's.  It  is  noteworthy  also  that  the 


332  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

knowledge  of  what  is  spiritual  enables  the  intellect  to  grasp 
more  rapidly  and  to  understand  more  thoroughly  studies 
that  are  concerned  only  with  material  things.  Modern 
educators  have  addressed  themselves  to  the  latter  with  a 
mad  enthusiasm,  only  to  find  that  matter  uncontrolled  by 
the  spirit  brings  ruin  upon  mankind.  The  crying  need  of 
the  day  is  to  restore  the  spirit  to  its  proper  place  in  the 
schools.  Had  the  world  at  large  received  a  better  educa- 
tion than  the  one  that  has  been  thrust  upon  it  for  the  two 
or  three  past  generations,  it  would  not  be  suffering  the  dis- 
asters which  are  crushing  it  to-day. 

Upon  that  basis  were  the  Marist  schools  erected  one 
hundred  years  ago,  and  hence  their  success.  Not  that  they 
were  alone  in  formulating  this  educational  programme. 
On  the  contrary,  they  were  merely  contributing  their  share 
to  the  great  movement  which  had  been  instinctively  inau- 
gurated from  one  end  to  the  other  of  the  country,  as 
soon  as  Napoleon  began  to  control  the  frenzies  of  the 
Revolution. 

Even  before  1817  as  many  as  nineteen  new  Teaching 
Orders  of  women  and  eleven  of  men  had  been  permitted 
to  open  schools  all  over  France.  The  old  Orders  that  had 
been  expelled  had  resumed  their  interrupted  work  and  were 
laboring  with  all  the  power  of  their  souls  to  restore  to  their 
country  the  Christianity  and  civilization  of  which  she  had 
been  so  cruelly  despoiled.  Infinitely  more  than  the  armies 
of  Napoleon  did  this  splendid  phalanx  of  Christian  teachers 
help  to  restore  France  to  her  place  among  the  nations. 

Conspicuous  in  the  battle  were  the  Marist  Brothers. 
They  were  everywhere  in  demand  in  their  own  country,  and 
soon  extended  their  activities  to  all  parts  of  the  world  — 
to  America,  Africa,  and  even  the  islands  of  the  Pacific. 
The  work  appealed  to  generous  souls,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  century  the  Society  was  represented,  not  by  the  two 
youths  whom  Father  Champagnat  had  so  laboriously 


THE    MARIST    CENTENNIAL  333 

trained,  but  by  six  thousand  ardent  apostles  who  are  now 
celebrating  their  Jubilee. 

They  have  a  right  to  it,  and  we  rejoice  with  them.  We 
exult  with  them  in  their  well-merited  triumph ;  we  are  grate- 
ful to  them  for  the  benefits  they  have  conferred  on  human- 
ity, for  the  glory  they  have  given  to  God,  and  the  consola- 
tion they  have  brought  to  the  afflicted  heart  of  the  Church. 
The  world  needs  them  now  as  much  as  it  did  after  the 
French  Revolution,  to  bring  back  this  generation  of  ours 
to  purity  of  life,  to  reverence  for  authority,  and  to  belief  in 
God  —  three  things  which  are  declared  in  the  first  passage 
of  their  Constitution  to  be  the  chief  object  of  the  Congre- 
gation of  the  Marist  Brothers. 


Dedication  of  the  Granite  Shaft 
on  Indian  Hill 

Here  on  November  14,  1655,  the  First  Mass  was  celebrated  in  the  State 

of  New  York 
Syracuse,  New  York,  September  23, 1917 

THOSE  were  wonderful  men,  —  the  first  mission- 
aries who  came  to  Onondaga,  Chaumonot,  Da- 
blon,  and  Le  Moyne.  "  Chaumonot,"  says  an  emi- 
nent authority,  was  "  one  of  the  most  beautiful  figures  of  the 
Canadian  missions."  He  was  as  simple  as  a  child  but  as 
brave  as  a  lion.  Side  by  side  with  the  heroic  Brebeuf  he 
tramped  through  the  snows  of  the  neutral  country  during 
five  terrible  months  every  moment  of  which  might  have 
been  his  last.  Starving,  exhausted,  and  ready  to  sink  in 
the  drifts,  chilled  to  the  marrow  of  their  bones  by  the  wintry 
blast,  he  and  his  companion  saw  themselves  thrust  from  the 
wigwams  in  the  dead  of  night  to  perish  in  the  cold,  or  be 
tomahawked  by  some  pursuing  savage.  They  heard  un- 
moved the  sentence  of  death  pronounced  by  the  chiefs  at 
the  council  fire,  looked  calmly  into  the  eyes  of  the  execu- 
tioners, who  dropped  their  weapons  in  amazement  at  the 
unconcern  of  their  victims,  who  when  set  free  went  their 
way,  travelling  from  Onguiara  or  Niagara  to  what  is  now 
Detroit,  mapping  out  the  sites  of  future  missions,  and  at 
last  emaciated,  worn,  and  crippled,  but  not  discouraged, 
reaching  their  miserable  mission  at  Georgian  Bay.  They 
never  saw  the  Neutrals  again,  for  the  Iroquois  from  the 
Mohawk  swept  down  on  the  frightened  Hurons  and  Chau- 
monot beheld  his  faithful  converts  ruthlessly  slaughtered 
before  his  eyes.  He  knelt  beside  the  charred  and  mangled 


THE  GRANITE  SHAFT  ON  INDIAN  HILL     335 

remains  of  Brebeuf  and  Lalemant,  who  were  burned  and 
tortured  at  the  stake;  listened  with  horror  to  the  tragic 
story  of  the  deaths  of  the  other  missionaries  who  were 
riddled  with  bullets  or  flung  into  the  blazing  ruins  of  their 
little  chapels  or  murdered  in  the  depths  of  forests  by  apos- 
tate Indians. 

Taking  with  him  some  of  the  remnants  of  the  tribe,  he 
made  his  way  down  the  cataracts  of  the  Ottawa  to  Quebec, 
and  there  organized  his  wonderful  Indian  Sodalities,  whose 
members  amazed  the  white  settlers  by  the  ardor  of  their 
devotion  and  the  purity  of  their  lives  and  whose  records 
contain  some  of  the  most  charming  pages  in  Canadian  his- 
tory. These  sons  of  the  forest  were  in  communication  with 
many  of  the  most  distinguished  Sodalities  of  Europe,  and 
one  reads  with  delight  of  gorgeous  cavalcades  issuing  from 
the  gates  of  the  great  cities  of  France  to  receive  the  wam- 
pum belts  which  their  red  brothers  on  the  St.  Lawrence  sent 
as  a  token  of  union  and  affection.  The  life  of  one  of  their 
Prefects,  Armand  Jean  —  he  was  named  after  Richelieu  — 
is  as  delightful  reading  as  the  most  fantastic  romance. 

Chaumonot  was  caring  for  these  Indians  when  the  call 
came  from  Onondaga  to  bear  the  message  of  salvation  to 
the  very  savages  whom  he  had  seen  a  short  time  before 
ruthlessly  butchering  his  neophytes.  He  obeyed  as  light- 
heartedly  as  ever.  He  knew  the  Iroquois  too  well  to  trust 
them  for  a  moment,  but  it  gave  him  the  chance  of  seeing 
and  saving  the  Hurons  who  had  been  carried  into  captivity; 
and  perhaps  he  thought  God  might  bestow  on  himself  the 
grace  of  being  made,  like  his  beloved  Brebeuf,  a  martyr  of 
the  Faith.  Dablon,  who  had  just  arrived  at  Quebec,  went 
with  him,  though  he  was  unprepared  for  the  work  and 
had  not  the  slightest  suspicion  of  the  sufferings  that  awaited 
him  in  the  squalor  and  degradation  of  the  Iroquois  cantons. 
They  were  received  at  Onondaga  with  the  wildest  acclama- 
tions of  delight.  Chaumonot  addressed  the  throngs  and 


336  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

amazed  them  by  his  eloquence  and  his  familiarity  with  their 
language.  He  was  admitted  to  be  the  equal  if  not  the 
superior  of  their  greatest  orators.  The  wampum  belt  he 
gave  them  on  that  occasion  is  still  among  the  precious  treas- 
ures of  the  Iroquois  League.  On  November  14,  1655,  the 
great  event  occurred  which  is  celebrated  to-day.  Holy 
Mass  was  offered  in  the  little  bark  chapel  which  the  Indians 
had  constructed  for  him.  Dablon,  of  course,  celebrated 
Mass  on  that  day  also,  but  Chaumonot,  being  the  senior, 
was  the  first  to  stand  in  his  priestly  vestments  at  the  humble 
altar. 

As  on  the  St.  Lawrence  so  in  Onondaga  he  organ- 
ized a  sodality  among  the  Huron  captives,  and  he  found 
as  many  as  eighty  who  were  duly  approved  by  the  Council 
for  their  piety  and  faith  and  were  in  consequence  admitted 
into  the  ranks  of  the  Children  of  the  Blessed  Mother. 
Thus  Indian  Hill  has  the  honor  of  having  established  the 
first  Sodality  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  of  having  assembled  its  members  in  the  chapel 
where  the  first  Mass  was  said. 

He  labored  there  until  the  eventful  night  of  March  20, 
1658,  when  the  entire  colony  of  Frenchmen  mysteriously 
disappeared,  while  the  Iroquois  slept  off  the  stupor  that 
followed  hours  of  dancing  and  singing  and  gorging  at  a 
feast  that  was  spread  for  them.  Chaumonot  would  have 
gladly  remained  and  died  for  his  Iroquois,  but  God  willed 
otherwise.  He  returned  to  Quebec,  and  expired  after  fifty- 
four  years  of  missionary  life  among  the  savages. 

His  companion  at  Onondaga,  Claude  Dablon,  was  also 
a  remarkable  man.  A  distinguished  professor  in  one  of 
the  greatest  colleges  in  France,  he  came  to  America  when 
he  was  about  thirty-six,  and  was  immediately  sent  to  the 
Onondagas,  though  he  did  not  yet  know  a  word  of  their 
language  and  little  dreamed  of  what  the  future  had  in 
store  for  him. 


THE  GRANITE  SHAFT  ON  INDIAN  HILL    337 

It  was  he  who  undertook  the  terrible  journey  on  foot 
over  the  ice  of  the  St.  Lawrence  from  Syracuse  to  Quebec 
to  humor  the  Indians,  who  wanted  a  trading  post  in  their 
territory.  The  diary  of  this  perilous  expedition  forms  one 
of  the  most  interesting  documents  of  American  history. 
He  succeeded  in  his  mission,  and  on  July  n,  1656,  a  flo- 
tilla of  canoes  carrying  fifty  Frenchmen  sailed  over  Lake 
Onondaga  with  banners  flying,  and,  amid  cheers  and  songs 
and  discharges  of  musketry.  The  new  arrivals,  after  ban- 
quets and  speeches  and  ceremonies  and  great  councils,  began 
the  construction  of  their  block-house  from  which  they  were 
soon  to  flee. 

After  the  exodus  we  find  him  working  his  way  in  a  canoe 
up  the  swift  Saguenay  and  over  Lake  St.  John  in  an  effort 
to  reach  Hudson  Bay;  and  later  on,  out  in  the  Far  West, 
with  Allouez  exploring  the  shores  of  Lake  Superior  and 
Green  Bay,  locating  the  copper  deposits  which  modern 
commerce  now  exploits,  and  while  experiencing  all  the  hard- 
ships and  dangers  of  missionary  life  in  those  distant  re- 
gions, dreaming  like  the  rest  of  those  apostolic  men  of 
solving  the  problem  of  the  Great  River  which  the  Indians 
told  them  was  somewhere  in  the  West.  It  was  he,  who, 
later  on,  when  he  was  Superior  of  all  the  Missions,  ap- 
pointed Marquette  and  Joliet  to  find  the  Mississippi,  and 
he  with  them  shared  the  glory  of  the  discovery.  The  edit- 
ing of  the  "  Jesuit  Relations  "  was  for  many  years  his  work. 

Greater  than  either  of  these  heroes,  however,  is  un- 
doubtedly Simon  Le  Moyne,  whose  splendid  monument 
adorns  one  of  the  squares  of  Syracuse,  and  who  is  admired 
by  all  the  students  of  New  York  history,  irrespective  of 
their  faith.  As  early  as  1638  he  was  in  the  midst  of  the 
horrors  and  terrors  of  missionary  life  among  the  Hurons. 
He  passed  through  all  the  tragic  scenes  which  extinguished 
in  blood  and  fire  the  whole  of  that  once  powerful  nation, 
and  only  a  few  years  afterwards  he  was  heroic  enough  to 


338  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

go  down  in  the  midst  of  the  very  Iroquois  whom  he  had 
seen  in  their  wild  fury  as  they  slaughtered  the  missionaries. 
He  went  to  ask  them  to  receive  the  brethren  of  those  same 
missionaries  to  christianize  and  civilize  them. 

Though  he  was  taking  his  life  in  his  hand  as  he  set  out 
for  Onondaga,  the  diary  which  he  has  left  of  his  adven- 
tures reveals  almost  a  merriment  of  soul.  He  was  received 
with  joy  by  the  savages;  made  enthusiastic  discourses  to 
them  in  Huron,  and  succeeded  in  winning  from  the  solemn 
convention  of  the  Sachems  which  met  on  Indian  Hill  a 
promise  to  receive  the  Blackrobes. 

When  they  proved  faithless  and  the  white  men  fled,  he 
again  went  among  them,  after  endeavoring  to  propitiate 
the  Mohawks  further  down  the  valley.  He  was  welcomed 
by  some,  but  persecuted  by  others;  was  dragged  naked 
through  the  streets  of  Onondaga;  was  tied  to  a  stake  to  be 
burned  to  death,  and  was  only  saved  from  the  tomahawk 
of  a  savage  by  the  unexpected  intervention  of  a  friendly 
squaw.  Then,  to  await  better  times,  he  withdrew  to  the 
neighboring  tribe  of  the  Oneidas. 

If  his  eloquence  and  his  holiness  did  not  appeal  to  the 
fierce  Iroquois,  at  least  he  brought  the  comforts  of  religion 
to  the  Huron  and  French  captives,  and  to  him  is  due  the 
conversion  of  one  of  the  most  remarkable  Indians  of  those 
times,  the  noble  Garagontie,  who  was  received  into  the 
Church  at  Quebec  with  all  the  pomp  and  splendor  with 
which  the  occasion  could  be  invested.  Members  of  all  the 
tribes  assisted  at  the  ceremony  and  looked  on  with  delight 
as  the  great  chief  bent  his  head  over  the  baptismal  font, 
while  the  Governor,  de  Courcelles,  stood  at  his  side  as  spon- 
sor. No  one  was  greater  in  the  eyes  of  Garagontie  than 
Simon  Le  Moyne,  and  when  the  news  of  the  valiant  mis- 
sionary's death  reached  him,  he  cried  out,  "  O  Ondes- 
sonk!  Dost  thou  hear  me  from  the  land  of  souls  to  which 
thou  hast  passed  so  quickly?  It  was  thou  who  didst  often 


THE  GRANITE  SHAFT  ON  INDIAN  HILL    339 

lay  thy  head  on  the  scaffolds  of  the  Mohawks;  thou  who 
didst  go  bravely  into  their  very  fires  to  rescue  so  many  of 
the  French;  thou  who  didst  bring  peace  and  tranquillity 
wherever  thou  didst  pass,  and  didst  make  believers  wherever 
thou  didst  dwell.  We  have  seen  thee  on  our  council  mats 
deciding  peace  and  war;  our  cabins  became  too  small  when 
thou  didst  enter,  and  our  villages  too  contracted  when  thou 
wast  there,  so  great  was  the  multitude  drawn  thither  by  thy 
words.  Since  thou  hast  so  often  taught  us  that  our  life  of 
misery  is  to  be  followed  by  one  of  eternal  bliss,  why  should 
we  grieve  now  that  thou  enjoyest  it?  But  we  lament  be- 
cause in  losing  thee  we  have  lost  a  father  and  a  protector. 
But  we  are  consoled  because  thou  art  still  such  in  heaven, 
and  because  thou  hast  found  that  abode  of  bliss  of  whose 
infinite  joy  thou  hast  so  often  told  us." 

Such  were  the  first  white  men  who  came  to  this  territory; 
all  of  them  splendid  examples  of  the  sublime  capabilities 
of  human  nature  assisted  by  divine  grace.  But  there  was 
some  one  with  them  who  was  infinitely  greater  than  they, 
for  on  November  14,  1655,  Jesus  Christ  Himself  was  here 
on  Indian  Hill. 

This  is  not  to  be  understood  in  any  mythical  sense,  nor 
merely  that  Christ  was  present  in  His  representatives,  or 
His  doctrine,  His  love,  His  power,  His  wisdom,  but  that  as 
truly  as  He  was  present  in  the  crib  of  Bethlehem,  on  the 
shores  of  Lake  Genesareth,  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  in 
the  temple,  in  the  supper  room,  on  the  cross,  in  the  tomb, 
in  the  upper  chamber,  and  on  Mt.  Olivet  before  He  as- 
cended to  heaven,  He  was  personally  and  substantially  and 
really  present  in  the  little  chapel  of  bark  whose  memory  is 
recalled  to-day  by  this  granite  monument.  It  is  true  that 
He  was  not  here  in  the  same  manner  in  which  men  saw  Him, 
and  listened  to  Him  and  sat  with  Him  and  touched  Him 
during  the  thirty-three  years  of  His  earthly  sojourn;  but, 
nevertheless,  He  was  as  personally  and  as  truly  present  in 


340  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

that  chapel  as  at  any  moment  of  His  mortal  life,  or  as  He  is 
in  the  glory  of  heaven.  That  this  is  true  we  know  with 
absolute  certainty,  for  the  simple  and  absolutely  convincing 
reason  that  the  night  before  His  passion  He  took  the  Bread 
and  Wine  in  His  hands ;  pronounced  the  words :  "  This  is 
my  Body;  this  is  my  Blood  " ;  and  as  none  can  obtain  eternal 
life  except  by  the  Bread  of  Life,  He  enjoined  upon  His 
Apostles  and  their  successors  to  repeat  the  same  act  of 
transubstantiation  wherever  they  might  be  till  the  end  of 
time.  Hence  it  is  when  the  ministers  of  Christ  acting  in 
their  sacerdotal  capacity  utter  these  words  there  before 
them  is  the  Body  of  Christ;  there  is  the  Soul  of  Christ; 
there  is  the  Divinity  of  Christ. 

That  is  what  we  mean  by  Christ's  Real  Presence  in  the 
Eucharist;  that  is  what  gives  significance  to  this  act  of 
to-day;  the  placing  of  a  monument  on  the  spot  where  those 
divine  words  were  first  pronounced  in  these  parts;  that  is 
why  Catholics  all  the  world  over  kneel  in  adoration  before 
the  tabernacle  where  the  light  is  glimmering,  though  there 
is  not  a  sound  of  service  or  ceremony  in  the  edifice;  or,  to 
take  one  concrete  instance,  that  is  why  in  one  of  the  old 
churches  of  the  metropolis,  right  in  the  heart  of  the  intense 
business  of  the  city,  throngs  of  men  of  every  condition  of 
life  hurry  in  to  kneel  for  a  few  brief  moments  during  the 
noon  recess,  before  the  silent  and  unillumined  altar.  Christ 
is  present  there.  That  is  why  splendid  churches  and  cathe- 
drals have  been  erected  and  glorified  with  all  the  beauty 
that  the  sublimest  art  and  architecture  could  conceive. 
Christ  is  present  there.  That  is  why  when  riches  and 
beauty  and  art  are  unattainable,  the  same  manifestations  of 
awe  and  reverence  and  perhaps  even  more  are  seen  in  the 
sordid  surroundings  of  a  log  cabin,  or  an  Indian  wigwam, 
or  a  mountain  cave,  or  amid  the  trees  of  the  forest  as  on  the 
most  splendid  shrine  that  was  ever  erected.  Christ  is  pres- 
ent there. 


THE  GRANITE  SHAFT  ON  INDIAN  HILL    341 

Hence  it  was  that  Le  Moyne  could  write  to  his  Superiors : 
"  The  chief  prepared  in  his  own  cabin  a  chapel  which  he 
built  without  cut-stone  or  carpentry.  Our  Lord,  who  con- 
sents to  place  Himself  under  the  species  of  bread  and  wine, 
does  not  disdain  to  dwell  under  our  bark  roof,  for  the  trees 
of  our  forest  are  as  precious  to  Him  as  the  cedars  of 
Libanus.  Where  He  is,  there  is  Paradise.  Thus  our  good 
Garagontie  thought  he  could  do  nothing  that  would  please 
me  more.  Indeed  you  can  judge  what  a  consolation  it  was 
for  me  and  our  poor  captive  Frenchmen  and  a  number  of 
our  old  Christian  Hurons  to  find  ourselves  together  in  the 
depths  of  this  savage  country  performing  our  devotions  and 
celebrating  the  august  Mysteries  of  the  Altar." 

As  the  old  hero  intimates  in  these  words,  it  is  not  merely 
the  Real  Presence  of  Christ  in  the  Eucharist  that  forms 
the  attraction  of  a  Catholic  Church,  but  it  is  chiefly  because 
in  it  are  celebrated  the  "  August  Mysteries  "  of  the  Holy 
Mass.  For  it  should  not  be  forgotten  in  the  first  place  that 
the  sublimest  act  of  religious  worship  is  not  merely  prayer 
or  song  or  some  other  service,  but  the  immolation  of  a  vic- 
tim to  the  Almighty,  and  secondly,  that  humanity  has  every- 
where offered  its  homage  to  God  in  that  manner  from  the 
time  Cain  and  Abel  offered  the  first  fruits  of  the  earth  and 
the  first  lambs  of  the  flock,  and  will  continue  to  do  so  till 
the  end. 

It  is  an  ineradicable  instinct  of  human  nature,  and  a 
glance  at  the  history  of  the  race  reveals  the  fact  that  it 
recognized  that  there  was  no  better  way  of  declaring  the 
essential  dependence  of  the  creature  on  the  Creator  than 
by  that  form  of  homage.  Notably  at  every  stage  of  the 
history  of  God's  people  sacrifices  were  offered;  the  pa- 
triarchs and  prophets  built  altars  and  immolated  victims; 
and  the  temple  of  Jerusalem  had  no  other  object  or  pur- 
pose than  that  the  sacrifices  ordained  by  Moses  should 
be  offered  incessantly  and  with  due  solemnity  until  the  com- 


342  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

ing  of  the  Lamb  of  God,  who  would  make  the  sublimest 
possible  oblation  to  the  Almighty  by  His  bloody  death  on 
the  Altar  of  the  Cross. 

But  as  the  Prophet  Malachy  had  announced,  this  sacrifice 
of  the  Cross  was  to  be  perpetuated  in  an  unbloody  manner, 
until  the  end  of  the  world,  therefore,  that  the  merits  of  His 
Passion  might  be  applied  to  all  mankind  in  all  times  and 
in  all  places,  Christ  in  His  infinite  love  decreed  that  He 
Himself  as  the  Great  High  Priest  should  offer  by  the  hands 
of  His  consecrated  ministers  the  species  of  Bread  and  Wine 
which  He  assured  us  in  the  most  solemn  manner  and  at 
the  most  solemn  moment  of  His  earthly  life  to  be  nothing 
else  than  His  own  most  precious  Body  and  Blood. 

Could  there  be  any  greater  act  of  religion  than  that? 
Could  there  be  any  sublimer  sacrifice  ?  Could  there  be  any 
surer  or  more  perfect  manner  of  adoring  God?  Any  bet- 
ter way  rendering  Him  thanks?  Any  more  infallible  means 
to  secure  help  in  our  necessities  of  soul  and  body  and  to 
atone  for  our  sins?  Assuredly  not;  for  in  the  Mass  it  is 
Christ  who  adores;  Christ  who  gives  thanks;  Christ  who 
pleads;  Christ  who  atones;  and  He  does  all  this  for  us. 

It  was  from  this  Eucharistic  Sacrifice  that  Chaumonot 
and  Dablon  and  Le  Moyne  and  their  associates  drew  their 
courage  to  face  torments  and  death;  and  even  to  rejoice  in 
the  opportunity  to  pour  out  their  blood  if  need  be  for  Him 
who  shed  His  blood  for  them.  It  was  from  the  same  divine 
source  that  these  erstwhile  savages  were  enabled  to  live 
Christian  lives;  that  Garagontie,  for  example,  could  verify 
his  beautiful  name:  "The  sun  that  advances";  that  Hot 
Ashes  the  Oneida,  and  Kryn,  "  the  Great  Mohawk,"  be- 
came ardent  apostles  in  their  respective  tribes;  that  young 
Skandegorhaksen  became  an  Aloysius  among  his  degraded 
people;  that  Tegakwitha,  and  others  like  her,  became 
saints;  that  numbers  of  these  barbarous  men  and  women  of 
a  few  years  before  were  transformed  into  pious  Sodalists, 


THE  GRANITE  SHAFT  ON  INDIAN  HILL    343 

and  that  still  more  of  them  lived  and  died  thanking  God 
for  the  gift  of  the  Faith. 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  illustration  of  the  intelligence 
with  which  these  Indians  recognized  the  importance  and 
the  necessity  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  in  the  life  of  a  Chris- 
tian might  be  shown  by  the  now  historic  act  of  the  Caughna- 
waga  Indians,  the  descendants  of  the  old  Iroquois  who  had 
been  settled  on  a  reservation  near  Montreal.  A  band  of 
them  had  tramped  almost  across  the  continent,  and  meeting 
the  Flatheads  in  the  Rockies  warned  them  that  they  would 
be  eternally  lost  unless  they  had  a  Blackrobe  to  minister 
for  them  at  the  altar  and  offer  for  them  the  Holy  Sacrifice 
of  the  Mass.  Again  and  again  they  travelled  down  as  far 
as  St.  Louis,  which  was  two  thousand  miles  away,  in  quest 
of  a  priest.  They  found  one  at  last  in  the  person  of  the 
illustrious  De  Smet,  but  not  before  Ignace,  the  leader  of 
the  band,  was  slain  by  hostile  Indians.  It  was  a  glorious 
ending  for  Ignace,  the  Iroquois,  whose-love  for  the  Blessed 
Sacrament  had  prompted  him  to  face  death  that  his  friends 
might  thus  have  Christ  living  in  the  midst  of  them.  One 
might  well  consider  him  a  martyr  of  the  Real  Presence. 

If  we  turn  to  the  times  when  the  white  race  replaced  the 
unfortunate  Indians  here  in  New  York,  and  ask  what  is  it 
that  inspires  and  enheartens  the  multitude  of  men  and  women 
we  see  around  us  to  lead  pure  and  holy  lives?  What  is  it 
that  forms  chaste  and  holy  families  whose  chief  purpose 
is  to  make  home  the  vestibule  of  heaven?  What  is  it  that 
fires  with  enthusiasm  so  many  young  hearts  to  consecrate 
themselves  to  the  self-sacrifice,  nay,  the  immolation  of  a 
sacerdotal  or  religious  career?  What  is  it  that  enables  the 
devout  laity  and  even  those  that  are  not  usually  devout  to 
bear  with  such  divine  patience,  and  even  thankfulness  and 
resignation,  the  bitterest  anguish  and  sorrow?  What  is  it 
that  brings  crowds  about  our  altar  rails,  little  children  and 
old  men,  rich  and  poor  alike,  not  only  on  Sundays  but  every 


344  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

day  of  the  week?  What  is  it  that  prompts  our  poverty 
stricken  people  to  build  churches  and  cathedrals  and  chapels 
and  schools  and  hospitals  and  asylums  and  refuges  for  the 
abandoned  and  afflicted,  and  to  supply  them  with  an  ever- 
growing army  of  the  best  of  our  families  who  labor  for  no 
other  purpose  than  the  love  of  God  in  the  most  distressing 
and  sometimes  the  most  revolting  surroundings?  What  is 
it  that  has  created  six  vast  dioceses  in  this  State  with  nearly 
thirteen  hundred  churches  at  whose  altars  more  than  two 
thousand  priests  are  ministering  where  less  than  one  hun- 
dred years  ago  one  bishop,  a  few  scattered  churches,  and 
a  handful  of  priests  sufficed?  What  is  it  that  has  produced 
the  result  that  while  as  many  as  forty-three  per  cent  of  the 
people  of  the  State  have  declared  in  the  official  census-taking 
that  they  have  no  religious  affiliation,  three  millions  of  the 
inhabitants  proclaim  themselves  Catholic? 

Of  course  there  are  obvious  reasons  for  this  astonishing 
numerical  growth,  such  as  immigration,  large  families,  and 
conversions,  but  the  question  is,  why,  independently  of  de- 
fections among  these  three  million,  by  far  the  vast  majority 
remain  faithful  and  why  the  growth  continues?  The  an- 
swer is,  the  Blessed  Sacrament.  Take  away  the  altar  and 
all  piety  will  disappear ;  take  away  the  altar  and  all  charity 
and  self-sacrifice  will  die ;  take  away  the  altar  and  all  faith 
and  religion  will  disappear;  the  numerical  superiority  will 
immediately  dwindle;  our  three  million  Catholics  will  no 
longer  figure  in  the  census  and  our  churches  like  those 
around  us  will  be  abandoned. 

Hence  the  wisdom,  Gentlemen  of  the  Order  of  the  Al- 
hambra,  of  recognizing  and  proclaiming,  as  you  have  done, 
the  necessity  of  this  Eucharistic  worship  of  Almighty  God. 
You  have  found  the  place  where  the  Holy  Sacrifice  was 
first  offered  in  the  Empire  State,  and  you  were  not  prompted 
in  the  search  by  the  historiographer's  eagerness  to  discover 
and  record  an  interesting  occurrence;  nor  because  of  any 


THE  GRANITE  SHAFT  ON  INDIAN  HILL    345 

idle  and  futile  and  foolish  desire  to  boast  of  the  origin  and 
the  growth  of  your  own  Church  in  contrast  with  the  decline 
and  decay  of  others  which  should  be  a  subject  rather  of 
alarm  and  dismay,  but  because  you  desire  to  declare  and 
demonstrate  to  those  around  you,  nay,  to  implore  and  en- 
treat them  to  recognize  that  there  has  never  been  and  never 
can  be  a  perfect  act  of  religion  without  an  altar  and  without 
a  sacrifice;  and  that  the  sacrifice  ordained  by  the  Redeemer 
of  the  World  is  the  Holy  Eucharist.  You  are  apostles  of 
the  Real  Presence  and  your  monument  is  a  declaration  that 
the  most  splendid  basilica  which  the  genius  of  man  has  ever 
reared  becomes  a  cold,  an  empty  and  abandoned  house  if 
the  Eucharist  is  not  there.  It  is  haunted  by  the  ghosts  of 
the  past,  for  in  it  the  Faith  was  cruelly  slain,  while  on  the 
other  hand  the  wretched  chapel  which  Father  Chaumonot 
regarded  as  the  Holy  of  Holies  is  still  held  in  veneration 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  it  has  crumbled  into  dust 
or  was  swept  away  in  some  Indian  conflagration,  simply  be- 
cause Christ  was  once  worshipped  there  in  the  Holy  Euchar- 
ist. No  ghosts  of  the  past  will  ever  haunt  this  place,  but 
angels  from  heaven  will  guard  it  as  a  sanctuary  forever. 


Dedication  of  the  Church 
of  the  Nativity 

Brooklyn,  New  York,  September  30, 1917 


r         "^HE  Nativity  of  Our  Lord   and   Saviour  Jesus 
Christ  is  not  only  the  central  but  the  centraliz- 

JL  ing  point  of  all  human  chronology.  It  is  more 
than  a  fact,  it  is  a  cause.  Every  other  event  is  inextricably 
bound  up  in  it,  all  the  past  was  a  preparation  for  it,  all 
the  future  refers  back  to  it,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  know 
where  we  stand  with  regard  to  the  occurrences  of  ancient 
or  modern  history  except  by  taking  the  Nativity  of  Christ 
as  the  starting-point  of  our  computations.  Thus  the  great 
overlords  of  Assyria  and  Babylonia  scorned  to  chronicle 
any  event  except  by  stamping  a  record  in  clay  that,  during 
such  or  such  a  year  of  their  reign,  they  built  a  city  or  waged 
a  war  or  overthrew  a  king.  Egypt  counted  its  age  by  its 
dynasties,  which  were  multiplied  indefinitely  until  they 
faded  into  the  clouds  and  mists  of  mythology.  The  intel- 
lectual Greeks  computed  time  by  their  Olympian  Games, 
and  the  Romans  took  as  the  beginning  of  history  the  build- 
ing of  their  city,  which  they  fancied  was  immortal;  but  As- 
syrian kings  and  Egyptian  dynasties  and  Olympian  Games 
are  in  the  discard  now,  and  there  is  no  other  way  of  meas- 
uring time  except  by  the  four  letters  B.C.  and  A.D.,  "  Be- 
fore Christ  "  and  "  The  Year  of  the  Lord." 

France  once  attempted  to  expunge  them  from  the  calen- 
dar and  started  anew  with  "  The  Year  of  the  Republic," 
but  the  folly  was  brief;  then  science  sought  to  deny  the 
facts  of  the  creation,  the  fall,  and  the  redemption  of  man- 
kind, by  multiplying  the  centuries,  the  ages,  the  eras,  the 


THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    NATIVITY     347 

epochs,  and  the  aeons  of  the  world's  evolution;  but  in  doing 
so  it  only  magnified  the  glory  of  Him  who  is  "  the  Alpha 
and  the  Omega,"  "  the  Beginning  and  the  End  of  all 
things." 

So  also  for  the  future.  No  one  knows  how  long  the 
earth  will  last,  but  we  do  know,  for  He  has  told  us,  that 
when  time  is  no  more  and  when  the  sky  is  rolled  up  like 
a  scroll,  there  will  come  the  Day  of  the  Lord  whose  King- 
dom is  for  everlasting.  Hence,  whether  they  will  it  or  not, 
pagans  and  Jews  and  atheists  and  unbelievers  as  well  as 
Christians  can  never  speak  of  the  grandest  or  the  obscurest 
events  of  human  history  without  proclaiming  the  Nativity 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  realizing  St.  Paul's  triumphant  proph- 
ecy, "Jesus  Christ!  Yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever." 

Nor  is  this  chronology  a  matter  of  convention  or  con- 
venience, for  down  deep  in  the  heart  of  humanity  there 
was  not  only  the  hope  but  the  conviction  that  a  Redeemer 
would  come  to  lift  mankind  from  the  degradation  into  which 
it  had  fallen  and  in  which  it  would  be  buried  unless  He 
came  in  time  to  save  it.  He  was  the  Glorious  Deliverer 
who  was  to  bring  back  the  Golden  Age  to  the  world. 

That  fact  stands  out  prominently  and  vividly  in  all  the 
histories  and  traditions  and  superstitions  and  mythologies 
and  religious  rites  of  every  nation  under  the  sun,  both  civil- 
ized and  savage.  The  pictures  they  drew  of  Him  are  in- 
deed hideous  and  distorted  at  times,  but  they  are  never- 
theless unmistakable  in  their  intent  and  in  the  outlines  they 
attempt  to  make  of  His  personality,  His  power,  and  His 
purpose.  Even  the  exact  time  of  His  coming  was  fixed  — 
whether  because  of  a  primitive  revelation  or  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  it  is  impossible  to  deter- 
mine —  but,  be  the  origin  of  this  remarkable  preposses- 
sion what  it  may,  the  fact  remains  that  Persians  and  Ara- 
bians and  Hindoos  and  Greeks  and  Romans  and  Etruscans 
and  Teutons  and  Celts  and  Esthenians  and  Aztecs  and 


348  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

American  Indians  were  anxiously  awaiting  Him.  He  came, 
indeed,  but  they  failed  to  recognize  the  mighty  Conqueror, 
the  universal  King,  the  all-wise  Ruler  whom  they  had  hoped 
for,  in  the  Man  who  was  born  in  a  stable  and  died  on  a 
cross.  "  He  was  a  scandal  to  the  Gentiles  and  a  stumbling 
block  to  the  Jews,"  says  St.  Paul;  and  hence,  to  fill  the  void, 
even  Herod  claimed  the  Messiahship,  and  Augustus  styled 
himself  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  But  they  only  increased 
the  general  corruption.  The  result  was  that  despair  fell 
upon  the  nations,  and  they  regarded  their  long-cherished 
hope  as  a  dream  and  a  delusion.  Even  Seneca,  the  great 
Roman  philosopher,  declared  that  nothing  now  was  left 
but  the  destruction  of  the  world.  Yet,  for  those  who  had 
eyes  to  see  and  a  mind  to  understand,  this  very  despair 
was  a  tribute  of  homage.  It  was  a  universal  admission 
that  without  Christ  there  is  no  salvation. 

More  distinctly  still,  the  origin,  the  political  vicissitudes, 
the  triumphs,  and  the  ruin  of  the  Jewish  nation  proclaim 
this  predominance  of  the  Christ  in  history.  Without  any 
effort  on  their  part,  in  fact  against  their  will,  they  were 
delivered,  by  the  direct  interposition  of  God,  from  a  de- 
grading and  destructive  slavery  and  established  as  an  auton- 
omous people.  Except  in  one  or  two  instances,  they  dis- 
played no  genius  either  for  war  or  statesmanship,  and  to 
the  end  they  were  rent  by  internal  dissensions.  As  many 
as  ten  of  their  tribes  were  lost  among  the  Gentiles.  Nor 
were  they  an  intellectual  race,  and  being  prone  to  idolatry 
were  forbidden  by  their  religion  to  cultivate  the  arts.  Nor 
did  they  develop  their  commerce  or  industries  to  any  not- 
able extent,  and  yet  the  capital  of  their  Kingdom  became 
one  of  the  great  centres  of  the  world  to  which  millions 
journeyed  from  every  part  of  the  world,  on  solemn  fes- 
tivals, to  participate  in  the  sacrifices  of  the  Temple  and 
revive  their  faith  in  the  Redeemer  who  was  to  be  of  the 
seed  of  Abraham  and  of  David.  The  greatest  and  noblest 


THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    NATIVITY     349 

and  holiest  of  their  representatives  formulated  the  divine 
promises  in  language  that  has  no  parallel  in  any  tongue  for 
majesty,  eloquence,  music,  and  beauty.  Every  detail  of  the 
life  and  character  of  the  Christ  was  inscribed  in  their  sacred 
books,  whose  text  was  so  jealously  guarded  that  for  its 
preservation  every  genuine  Hebrew  would  have  gladly  died. 
Indeed  the  Sacred  Scriptures  formed  the  only  bond  of  unity 
that  held  this  politically  weak  nation  together,  and  insured 
its  permanency,  in  spite  of  its  own  incessant  internecine 
strife  and  the  constant  menace  of  the  mighty  empires  with 
which  it  was  in  closest  contact,  and  which  could  have  abso- 
lutely annihilated  it  any  moment. 

In  flat  contradiction,  however,  with  every  political  and 
human  prognostication  and  prevision,  it  was  the  great  na- 
tions that  disappeared,  while  the  weak  one,  which  was  help- 
less and  despised  and  often  depleted  and  decimated  by  its 
own  deplorable  schisms  and  individual  apostasies,  as  well 
as  by  invasions,  massacres,  repeated  subjugations,  servi- 
tudes, and  deportations,  persevered  as  an  independent 
national  entity  up  to  the  very  moment  of  the  coming  of 
Christ;  and  then,  like  the  others,  it  ceased  to  be.  What 
was  the  reason?  It  is  not  far  to  seek.  The  sole  purpose 
of  its  existence  as  a  nation  was,  absolutely  and  exclusively 
and  without  qualification,  the  guardianship  of  the  promises 
whose  realization  within  itself  was  to  be  its  especial  glory 
and  whose  splendor  was  to  be  diffused  from  it  for  the  en- 
lightenment and  the  salvation  of  the  world  outside.  It 
proved  false  to  its  trust.  It  refused  to  accept  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  as  the  Messiah,  and  never  since  has  it  had  a 
king,  a  city,  a  senate,  or  an  altar.  It  rejected  the  corner- 
stone of  its  national  structure  and  was  crushed  by  it. 

Thus  it  is  that  Christ  is  the  central  figure  of  all  human 
history.  But  He  is  more  than  that.  It  is  He  who  controls 
and  shapes  and  directs  everything  that  occurs  in  the  prog- 
ress of  time.  Who,  for  instance,  can  forecast  the  future? 


350  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

Who  can  tell  with  absolute  certainty  what  is  to  happen, 
thousands  of  years  hence,  during  which  mighty  empires 
arise  and  disappear?  Who  can  penetrate  the  infinite  insta- 
bility and  changefulness  of  human  plans  and  purposes, 
which  not  only  hide  the  distant  future,  but  make  the  events 
of  even  the  next  moment,  at  best,  only  a  matter  of  specu- 
lation? Yet  His  radiant  figure  is  seen  in  the  first  dawn 
of  time,  growing  brighter  as  the  clouded  centuries  recede, 
until  at  the  appointed  time  He  blesses  the  earth  with  His 
presence.  Again,  He  is  born  in  a  stable,  but  angels  an- 
nounce the  glad  tidings  and  kings  kneel  before  Him  with 
their  gifts.  He  withdraws  into  obscurity,  but  on  the  banks 
of  the  Jordan  a  voice  is  heard  above  Him  glorifying  Him 
and  proclaiming  to  the  world  that  He  is  the  Son  of  the 
Eternal  Father,  and  that  all  the  world  must  obey  Him. 
He  is  transfigured  on  the  lonely  and  far-away  mountain  of 
Thabor,  and  the  greatest  saints  of  the  Old  Testament  come 
to  pay  Him  homage;  from  out  the  gloom  of  Calvary  He 
arises  in  the  splendor  of  the  Resurrection  and  ascends  in 
triumph  to  heaven;  He  establishes  a  spiritual  kingdom  on 
foundations  that  seem  to  invite  and  even  compel  its  ruin, 
but  it  has  defied  all  the  powers  of  the  earth  that  were  united 
to  destroy  it,  and  it  has  the  promise  that  it  will  never  fail. 
He  rules  not  by  terror  but  by  love,  and  countless  millions 
in  every  land  and  every  time  worship  and  adore  Him.  He 
has  filled  the  universe  with  holiness  and  truth,  and  when 
the  earth  shall  have  run  its  course,  He  will  appear  in 
majesty  and  power  to  judge  the  living  and  the  dead. 

Well  might  we  follow  the  example  of  the  old  missionary 
among  the  Iroquois  who,  when  driven  out  of  his  wigwam, 
fixed  on  a  cross  in  the  wilderness  near  the  Falls  of  Niagara 
an  inscription  which  his  angry  and  stupid  savages  might 
look  at  in  wonderment  even  if  they  did  not  understand  its 
meaning:  Chris tus  vlncit,  Christus  regnat,  Christus  im- 
perat.  In  our  unbelieving  age,  which  is  fast  becoming 


THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    NATIVITY     351 

savage  in  its  perceptions,  in  its  instincts,  and  in  its  methods, 
we,  like  the  persecuted  and  wearied  apostle  in  the  wilder- 
ness, can  keep  before  the  eyes  of  this  generation  that  same 
truth  which  alone  can  save  us  and  it:  "  Christ  conquers, 
Christ  reigns,  Christ  rules." 

It  cannot  be  otherwise.  For  Christ  is  not,  as  we  hear 
Him  proclaimed  everywhere  to-day  in  the  press,  on  the 
platform,  in  schools  and  universities,  and,  most  deplorable 
of  all,  in  Protestant  pulpits,  merely  a  man,  a  teacher,  a  re- 
former, the  inaugurator  of  a  new  epoch.  He  is  God;  He 
is  the  Second  Person  of  the  Adorable  Trinity;  He  is  God  of 
God,  Light  of  Light,  True  God  of  True  God,  the  Creator 
of  all  things  that  are  made,  Who  for  us  men  and  for  our 
salvation  came  down  from  heaven,  was  made  flesh,  and 
dwelt  amongst  us. 

How  do  we  know  this?  We  know  it  because  all  human- 
ity, waiting  through  the  centuries  for  His  coming,  pro- 
claimed it.  We  know  it  because  the  saints  and  prophets 
of  the  chosen  people  again  and  again  asserted  it  and  died 
to  maintain  it.  We  know  it  because  it  is  acclaimed  by  the 
countless  myriads  of  children  of  that  universal  and  eternal 
Kingdom,  the  Church,  who  love  and  serve  Him  in  sorrow 
and  affliction,  for  whom  His  Divinity  is  the  light  and  glory 
and  joy  and  hope  of  their  lives,  and  who  would  sacrifice  all 
they  have,  even  to  the  last  drop  of  their  blood,  that  His 
reign  might  be  extended  wider  and  wider  upon  earth.  We 
know  it  because  Christ  Himself,  in  the  full  light  of  the 
prophecies,  in  the  splendor  of  His  miraculous  power,  and 
the  transcendent  beauty  of  His  holiness,  taught  it  to  the 
assembled  Sanhedrin  when  the  clouds  of  death  were  gather- 
ing around  Him;  taught  it  to  the  adoring  and  jubilant 
people  on  the  street,  and  to  the  representatives  of  all  the 
nations  of  the  world  that  were  grouped  around  the  cross 
on  which  He  was  nailed.  Nothing  false  could  have  defiled 
the  lips  of  such  a  teacher. 


352  VARIOUS    DISCOURSES 

It  is  needless  to  advert  to  the  fact  that  at  the  present  time 
there  is  an  especial  need  of  insisting  upon  the  teaching  of 
this  doctrine  of  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  for  all  over  the 
world  it  is  mocked  at  or  ignored,  with  the  consequence  of 
a  widespread  and  appalling  apostasy  from  Christianity,  of 
which  it  is  the  basic  truth.  Millions  of  people  in  our  own 
country  and  elsewhere  have  never  even  heard  the  doctrinal 
and  moral  teachings  of  Christ,  or  if  they  have  it  is  only 
to  flout  them;  families  are  constructed  on  principles  that 
are  not  only  in  antagonism  with  but  in  defiance  of  the  com- 
monest Christian  ethics;  governments  in  the  main  are 
frankly  pagan  in  their  principles,  their  purposes,  and  their 
methods;  and  the  upper  classes,  like  Dives,  think  only  of 
filling  their  storehouses  and  of  faring  sumptuously,  while 
Lazarus  is  rotting  at  their  doors.  If  history  means  any- 
thing, the  past  will  be  repeated  in  the  future ;  nay,  it  would 
seem  that  the  future  is  already  here.  The  great  nations 
are  disintegrating  before  our  eyes;  family  life  and  family 
decency  have  disappeared;  and  Lazarus  is  replaced  by  those 
who  have  made  up  their  minds  not  to  be  crushed,  but  to 
destroy  their  oppressors.  In  brief,  a  condition  obtains  in 
the  world  at  present  which  has  no  parallel  since  the  Nativity 
of  Christ. 

What  is  the  remedy?  There  is  only  one,  and  it  has  been 
clearly  proclaimed  by  him  who  represents  Christ:  "  Restore 
Christ  to  civilization."  To  effect  that  object  is  the  work 
not  only  of  this  Church  of  the  Nativity,  but  of  every  other 
Catholic  church  that  has  been  built  in  the  past  or  will  be 
built  in  the  future ;  not,  however,  by  merely  inculcating  the 
doctrine  of  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  but  by  accomplishing 
what  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  is  intended  to 
achieve,  the  creation  of  other  Christs,  the  deification  of 
humanity  itself.  St.  John  does  not  hesitate  to  say,  and  the 
Church  does  not  hesitate  to  repeat  it  almost  every  day,  at  the 
Divine  Sacrifice,  that  "  The  Word  was  made  flesh  and  gave 


THE    CHURCH    OF   THE    NATIVITY     353 

to  everyone  who  received  Him  the  power  to  be  made  the 
sons  of  God;  of  being  born  not  of  bloods,  nor  of  the  will 
of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God." 

What  does  this  mean?  It  means  that  what  we  call  sancti- 
fying grace  is  bestowed  upon  us  to  enrich  our  soul  with 
a  life  far  above  the  one  that  it  already  possesses  in  virtue 
of  its  spirituality  and  immortality;  our  intellect  is  so  il- 
lumined that  it  is  made  capable  of  grasping  divine  truths 
which,  unaided,  it  could  never  attain  nor  even  suspect  or 
surmise;  our  will  is  endowed  by  it  with  a  power  of  resisting 
temptation,  supporting  trial,  and  achieving  the  loftiest  hero- 
ism of  life  and  act;  and,  finally,  our  faces  are  set  not  merely 
to  the  ultimate  goal  of  the  natural  and  consequently  of  the 
inferior  felicity  due  to  a  spiritual  creature,  but  to  nothing 
less  than  the  ineffable  bliss  of  the  beatific  vision  in  which 
we  are  to  see  God  face  to  face  forever  and  ever. 

Hence  it  is  that,  in  each  House  of  God  in  which  His 
children  assemble,  every  sacred  sign  and  symbol  upon  its 
walls,  every  ceremony,  simple,  solemn,  or  sublime,  in  its 
sanctuary,  every  song  of  praise  or  prayer  or  plaint  or  tri- 
umph or  entreaty  that  rises  from  the  heart  or  is  voiced  on 
the  lips  of  the  throngs  that  kneel  in  its  inclosure  or  is  car- 
ried on  the  murmurs  or  thunders  of  its  mighty  organs,  or 
in  its  strange,  unworldly  music  whose  cadences  and  intervals 
and  long-drawn-out  and  lingering  notes  die  away  in  the 
distance  like  birds  that  disappear  in  the  far-away  depths 
of  the  heavens,  all  proclaim  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  God 
of  God,  the  Light  of  Light,  True  God  of  True  God,  to 
effect  directly  or  indirectly,  mediately  or  immediately,  a 
transformation  of  the  soul  that  entitles  us  to  be  called  and 
to  be  the  Sons  of  God  and  the  Brothers  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  unusually  beautiful  church  which  we  are  dedicating 
to-day  is  an  illustration  of  this.  Its  name  "  Nativity  "  is 
a  perpetual  pronouncement  of  the  first  doctrine  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God.  Its  intention- 


354  VARIOUS   DISCOURSES 

ally  plain  but  noble  exterior  recalls  the  humility  of  the 
Humanity  of  Christ,  which  was  the  shield  of  the  splendor 
of  the  Divinity  which  dwelt  within  Him.  Its  columned 
and  spacious  portico,  standing  wide  on  the  level  of  the  pub- 
lic highway,  is  an  invitation  to  all  those  who  pass  by  to  enter 
into  God's  household;  its  confessionals  are  built  outside  the 
walls,  like  sepulchres  wherein  we  lay  our  dead  selves  and 
from  whose  granite  gates  we  emerge  like  Lazarus  from 
the  tomb,  reclothed  with  the  life  that  sin  had  robbed  us  of; 
and,  omitting  other  architectural  significances,  its  stately 
procession  of  glittering  monoliths  leads  us  straight  to  where 
Christ  abides  in  that  Eucharistic  life  which  His  love  has  de- 
vised that  He  might  dwell  with  us  until  we  gaze  upon  Him, 
not  veiled  in  the  Sacred  Species,  but  in  the  splendor  of  His 
glory  in  heaven. 

In  conclusion,  therefore,  and,  I  trust  as  a  logical  deduc- 
tion from  the  premises  of  this  protracted  discourse,  let  me 
say,  that  the  people  who  are  privileged  to  be  the  parishion- 
ers of  the  Church  of  the  Nativity,  and  who  from  their  hard 
earnings  have  erected  this  magnificent  edifice  in  the  honor 
of  God,  from  every  part  of  which  the  soul  hears  such  elo- 
quent appeals,  should,  by  the  purity,  the  integrity,  the  nobil- 
ity, nay,  by  the  divinity  of  their  lives,  be  conspicuous  among 
their  fellow-men  as  genuine  children  of  God;  the  enlight- 
ened, self-sacrificing  people  who  are  steady  and  unshaken 
even  in  the  midst  of  the  direst  afflictions,  who  rate  all  things 
as  naught  in  comparison  with  their  faith  in  Jesus  Christ, 
who  know  that  it  alone  can  give  repose  and  comfort  in 
their  earthly  sorrows,  sanctity  and  security  to  their  family 
life,  stability  to  their  country,  and  the  assurance  of  eternal 
salvation. 


as 


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